WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would have protected members of the Sackler family, which owns the company, from civil lawsuits over the cost of opioids.
The pact would also have provided billions of dollars to combat the opioid epidemic.
The justices, in a vote of 5 to 4, blocked the agreement drawn up with the state and municipal governments and the victims. The Sacklers would have contributed up to $6 billion and relinquished ownership of the company, but would have retained billions more.
The agreement stated that the company would emerge from bankruptcy as a different entity and its profits would go toward treatment and prevention.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said that “nothing in current law authorizes Sackler’s removal.”
Vote 5-4
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
“Opioid victims and other future victims of mass torts will suffer greatly in the wake of today’s unfortunate and destabilizing decision,” Kavanaugh wrote.
The high court had put the agreement on hold since last summer, in response to objections from the Joe Biden administration.
Arguments made in early December lasted nearly two hours in a packed courtroom as the justices seemed, in turns, unwilling to upset a carefully negotiated settlement and reluctant to reward the Sacklers.
The question for the justices was whether the legal shield that bankruptcy provides can be extended to people like the Sacklers, who have not filed for bankruptcy.
Lower courts had issued conflicting decisions on that issue, which also has implications for other major products liability lawsuits resolved through the bankruptcy system.
Source: With information from AP.
