Motion for stay in Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case

Bankruptcy deal would shield drugmaker from opioid-related lawsuits

Attorney General filed the motion in the Purdue Pharma case, aiming to suspend approval of a plan that would give sweeping immunity to the Sackler family.

Attorney General William Tong filed a motion for stay Sunday in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case, aiming to suspend the approval of a plan that would reorganize the Stamford-based painkiller maker and deliver sweeping immunity to its owners, the Sackler family.

“The bankruptcy court’s ruling let the Sacklers off the hook by affording them permanent immunity from lawsuits that would hold them accountable for the damage they have caused, in exchange for a fraction of the blood money they reaped from the opioid epidemic,” Tong said in a statement Monday. “We cannot allow billionaires to operate by a different set of rules than the rest of us. This unprecedented order must be stopped in its tracks while our appeal proceeds.”

Earlier this month, a federal judge approved a $10 billion reorganization plan for Purdue Pharma, a move that signaled the end of a yearslong battle by states, municipalities and other entities to hold the Sacklers accountable for their role in driving the opioid crisis through Purdue Pharma’s aggressive production and marketing of its highly addictive prescription painkiller Oxycontin.

Under the plan, the Sacklers would give up ownership of Purdue Pharma and contribute $4.3 billion over nine years to the plaintiffs in thousands of cases — including Connecticut — but be freed from any future lawsuits related to the opioid crisis. Meanwhile, Purdue Pharma would be dissolved and reorganized into a new company with a board appointed by public officials, and profits from the company would go toward government-led efforts to prevent and treat opioid use disorder.

In the motion, submitted Sunday, attorneys for the states of Connecticut and Washington noted that several federal Circuit Courts of Appeals “have held that bankruptcy proceedings cannot be used to release claims against non-debtors like the Sacklers.”

“While the Sacklers refused to subject themselves, personally, to individual bankruptcy cases, they seek to piggyback on this corporate bankruptcy to shield themselves from any future liability for their role in the opioid crisis while holding onto billions in ill-gotten gains,” Connecticut and Washington State alleged.

This past summer, Tong and Sen. Richard Blumenthal pushed to close a loophole in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that enables non-bankrupt individuals to receive legal protections through a company’s bankruptcy.

Purdue Pharma began selling Oxycontin 25 years ago, urging doctors to embrace its painkilling properties. Since 2000, opioid use — including both prescription painkillers and illegal drugs like heroin and fentanyl — has resulted in more than 470,000 deaths in America.

Through objections filed earlier this year in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Tong and eight other attorneys general noted that the Sackler family made at least $11 billion in profits from the sale of Oxycontin.