A proposed arrangement with OxyContin producer Purdue Pharma that would have shielded the Sackler family from constitutional duty for their role in the opioid crisis was rejected by the Supreme Court. A bankruptcy judge was never given the authority to transfer the Sackler family from legal action brought by opioid patients in the 5- 4 decision that was made on Thursday night.
The Sackler household had agreed to give up rights of Purdue Pharma and give up to$ 6 billion to settle opioid-related states as part of the proposed agreement in exchange for constitutional protection from pending lawsuits. Prior to the top of the opioid epidemic, the Sackler community operated Purdue, a company that sold oxycycline and other prescription medications. Following several lawsuits claiming damages from OxyContin, the business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019. The opioid is prescribed to treat mild to moderate pain.
According to National Review, the Court’s decision means that settlement negotiations will need to resume and that it is possible that no package will be reached at this point.  ,
The Sacklers seek greater pleasure than a bankruptcy discharge typically would, because they “want to kill also claims for unlawful death and scam, and they want to do so without putting something close to all their assets on the table,” wrote traditional Justice Neil Gorsuch in the majority opinion. The Sacklers ‘ “norm” is not what they want to see in judge, “because they want to have claims against opioid victims dismissed without their permission.”
” Describe the relief the Sacklers seek how you will, nothing in the bankruptcy code contemplates ( much less authorizes ) it”, Gorsuch added. He came to the conclusion that Congress has the authority to decide whether to adopt new specific regulations for the bankruptcy code for drug-related bankruptcies.
The dissenting judgment was delivered by liberal Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was joined by liberal Justice Elena Kagan and traditional Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
The choice, Kavanaugh wrote, may leave a “devastating” effect on more than 100, 000 opioid victims and their families because they “are now deprived of the large economic recovery that they long fought for and finally secured after years of litigation”. He urged Congress to amend U. S. bankruptcy law to “fix the chaos that will now ensue” from the ruling.
According to Kavanaugh,” The Court’s decision will lead to too much harm for too many people for Congress to sit by idly without at least carefully studying the issue.”
Following the Supreme Court’s acceptance of the case, the settlement was put on hold last year. A New York federal appeals court had previously approved it.
Since Purdue’s bankruptcy filing, the opioid crisis has progressively worsened. In 2019, some 70, 000 people died from drug overdoses in the U. S. In 2022, drug overdoses contributed to nearly 108, 000 deaths. That same year, almost 12, 000 people died from natural and semisynthetic opioids, including oxycodone, the ingredient used in OxyContin. An additional 74, 000 died from synthetic opioids other than methadone, primarily fentanyl.
