Ruling clears way for Purdue Pharma to settle opioid claims, protect Sacklers from lawsuits

FILE – Jayde Newton helps to set up cardboard gravestones with the names of victims of opioid abuse outside the courthouse where the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy is taking place in White Plains, N.Y., on Aug. 9, 2021. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Tuesday, May 30 overturned a lower court’s 2021 ruling that found bankruptcy courts did not have the authority to protect members of the Sackler family who own the company and who have not filed for bankruptcy protection from lawsuits. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

A federal court ruling has cleared the way for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to settle thousands of legal claims over the toll of opioids. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s 2021 ruling that found bankruptcy courts did not have the authority to protect members of the Sackler family who own the company and who have not filed for bankruptcy protection from lawsuits. The concept is at the heart of Purdue’s plan to settle thousands of lawsuits in a deal that would include $5.5 billion to $6 billion from Sackler family members.


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