Purdue’s $4.3b offer to settle opioid suits rejected
US attorneys general suing Purdue Pharma, the maker of prescription painkiller OxyContin which was highly addictive and killed hundreds of thousands of people in the country’s opioid crisis, are demanding more money after the company’s owners used their personal fortune and offered nearly $4.3 billion to settle thousands of opioid lawsuits.
“The Sacklers became billionaires by causing a national tragedy. Now they’re trying to get away with it,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement on Tuesday. “We’re going to keep fighting for the accountability that families all across this country deserve.”
Healey and 23 other attorneys general voiced opposition to the bankruptcy plan filed minutes before a court-imposed deadline on Monday. The money offered by members of the Sackler family was a billion dollars more than offered last year.
“It falls short of the accountability that families and survivors deserve,” New York Attorney General Tish James said in a statement.
To halt mounting civil litigation, which was costing Purdue $2 million a week in related legal fees, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019.
The plan, filed in US Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York, marks the Stamford, Connecticutbased company’s formal offer to settle more than 2,900 lawsuits from states, municipalities, Native American tribes, hospitals and other plaintiffs for costs associated with the opioid epidemic.
The $4.3 billion of personal money offered by members of the Sackler family was a billion dollars more than offered last year, but state attorneys general rejected the plan.
Purdue says the plan is worth more than $10 billion and sets up trusts that would indirectly control the new entity to distribute money to states, local governments and tribal organizations for opioidabatement programs.
“Purdue has delivered a historic plan that can have a profoundly positive impact on public health by directing critically-needed resources to communities and individuals nationwide who have been affected by the opioid crisis,” Steve Miller, chairman of Purdue’s board of directors, said in a statement.
Members of the Sackler family have denied wrongdoing. In exchange for the proposed settlement, members of the Sackler family would be released from opioid-related litigation, but they would not be released from criminal investigations that could be brought by states for violating consumer protection laws.
The plan must be approved by US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains and by a majority of the company’s creditors.
The biggest difference between Purdue’s earlier proposals and the latest plan in a bankruptcy filing is a payment increase of $1.3 billion from the Sacklers’ personal fortune and the addition of two more years — from seven to nine — to their payment schedule.