Law [Purdue Pharma's Opioid Lawsuit] Supreme Court Hears Arguments Against $6 Billion Settlement That Grants The Sackler Family Civil Immunity

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OxyContin maker negotiating $10 to 12 billion opioid settlement with state, local governments
By Danielle Wallace | August 27, 2019



The maker of OxyContin—Purdue Pharma, which is owned by members of the Sackler Family--- is reportedly offering a $10 to $12 billion payout to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits brought by state, local and tribal governments that claim the company is responsible for the nationwide opioid crisis.

State attorneys general and lawyers representing local governments told the Associated Press Tuesday they are involved in active settlement talks with Purdue Pharma--- about two months before the first federal trial over the toll of opioids is scheduled to start in Cleveland.

In a statement, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said it's prepared to defend itself but sees little good in years of "wasteful litigation and appeals."

"Purdue believes a constructive global resolution is the best path forward, and the company is actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to achieve this outcome," the company said.

More than 400,000 people have died across the country from an opioid overdose since 2000—around the same time OxyContin first began to be widely prescribed by U.S. doctors.

Though OxyContin is only one of several other brands of opioids on the market, lawsuits allege Purdue Pharma aggressively marketed OxyContin as the opioid of choice for its low risk of triggering addictions despite knowing OxyContin is in fact a highly addictive drug.

A report by NBC News said the privately held company has offered to settle for $10 billion to $12 billion. The deal would also involve Purdue Pharma filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, effectively removing the Sackler family’s stake in and control of the company, before then restructuring into a for-profit "public benefit trust.

Paul Farrell Jr., a lead plaintiffs' lawyer representing local governments, said all sides remain under a gag order: "All we can confirm is that we are in active settlement discussions with Purdue.

Attorneys general representing several states also confirmed the accelerated negotiations. Ohio Attorney General David Yost is "actively engaged in conversations with Purdue," said spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle, declining further comment.

Kylie Mason, spokeswoman for Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, declined comment on details of any possible settlement but said the state will "continue to aggressively pursue justice — to ensure those companies complicit in the opioid crisis pay for the pain and suffering inflicted on our state."

"Our mission here has always been clear — make Purdue Pharma and the other manufacturers and distributors pay for what they did to Pennsylvania and its people, and put the Sackler family out of the opioid business for good," Jacklin Rhoads, spokeswoman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who has staffers at the Cleveland negotiations, told the Associated Press.

Earlier this week, an Oklahoma judge ordered another major company, Johnson & Johnson, and its subsidiaries to pay $572 million, ruling the company’s aggressive and misleading marketing campaign made it partially liable for the state’s opioid crisis.

Purdue Pharma, which was also a defendant in the case, settled a $270 million deal in March to avoid being involved in litigation. A third defendant, Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., also agreed to a $85 million settlement before the trial first began in May.

The Sackler family has given money to cultural institutions around the world, including the Smithsonian Institution, New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and London’s Tate Modern, but members of the art community have declined to accept donations and have distanced themselves from the family amid ongoing litigation.

https://www.foxnews.com/health/purdue-pharma-oxycontin-settlement-discussions-billions-lawsuits
 
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OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma expected to file for bankruptcy after stalled settlement talks
By Melissa Leon, Fox News | September 7, 2019



Purdue Pharma, the maker of the painkiller OxyContin, is expected to file for bankruptcy after attempts to reach a settlement over its role in the opioid crisis came to a standstill, state attorneys general involved in the talks said Saturday.

The Sackler family, which owns Purdue, rejected two offers and declined to make counteroffers, according to an email from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein that was obtained by the Associated Press.

"As a result, the negotiations are at an impasse, and we expect Purdue to file for bankruptcy protection imminently," Slatery and Stein wrote.

Chapter 11 protection would greatly reduce Purdue’s legal liability in the nationwide lawsuit to approximately $1 billion from up to $12 billion, according to a proposal that recently became public. The company had threatened to file for bankruptcy earlier this year and was holding off while negotiations continued.

At least 30 states and 2,000 state, local and tribal governments have filed lawsuits claiming the pharmaceutical company is responsible for the nationwide opioid crisis. The lawsuits — which have also been filed by unions, hospitals, and lawyers representing babies who were born in opioid withdrawal — have been consolidated under a single federal judge in Cleveland.

The lawsuits allege that Purdue aggressively sold OxyContin and marketed it as a drug with a low risk of addiction despite knowing that wasn't true. Purdue says it didn’t initially realize the addictive opioid was being abused. Former Purdue Chairman Richard Sackler has claimed doctors gave the drug positive reviews, saying they were at one point “extremely enthusiastic” about how patients were responding to the painkiller.

However, in a Justice Department memo obtained by The New York Times, government lawyers claim Purdue knew early on its drug was fueling an addiction epidemic.

Most of those lawsuits also name other opioid makers, distributors and pharmacies in addition to Purdue, some of which have been pursuing their own settlements. Purdue also faces hundreds of other lawsuits filed in state courts and had sought a wide-ranging deal to settle all cases against it.

One settlement proposal called for Purdue to enter a structured bankruptcy that could be worth $10 billion to $12 billion over time. Included in the total would be $3 billion from the Sackler family, which would give up its control of Purdue and contribute up to $1.5 billion more by selling another company it owns, Cambridge, England-based Mundipharma.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who was also taking part in negotiations, told the AP the attorneys general believed what Purdue and the Sacklers were offering would not have been worth the reported $10 billion to $12 billion.

In their latest offers, the states also sought more assurances that the $4.5 billion from the Sacklers would actually be paid, according to the message circulated Saturday: "The Sacklers refused to budge."

In March, Purdue reached a $270 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma to avoid a trial on the toll of opioids there.

The impasse in the talks comes about six weeks before the scheduled start of the first federal trial under the Cleveland litigation, overseen by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster. That trial will hear claims about the toll the opioid epidemic has taken on two Ohio counties, Cuyahoga and Summit.

A bankruptcy filing by Purdue would most certainly remove the company from that trial.

The bankruptcy judge would have wide discretion on how to proceed. That could include allowing the claims against other drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies to move ahead while Purdue's cases are handled separately. Three other manufacturers have already settled with the two Ohio counties to avoid the initial trial.

https://www.foxnews.com/health/oxycontin-maker-purdue-pharma-bankruptcy
 
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Purdue needs the death penalty, not a restructuring of debt.

Purdue should be the next Union Bank.
 
That's just the cost of doing business for these guys.

Theyll resurrect as Urduep Pharma eventually and get back to curing all our illnesses.
 
The Sackler family needs to rot in solitary. They make El Chapo look like Jesus Christ himself.
 
You some cold motherfuckers calculating how much money you can make by burying research on how many people your product is going to kill?

You get to declare bankruptcy and start again.

You a 18 year old kid with a half developed brain, takes out some loans you can’t afford to try to get an education like everyone says you supposed to?

Sorry, that gonna be with you for life.

#America
 
You some cold motherfuckers calculating how much money you can make by burying research on how many people your product is going to kill?

You get to declare bankruptcy and start again.

You a 18 year old kid with a half developed brain, takes out some loans you can’t afford to try to get an education like everyone says you supposed to?

Sorry, that gonna be with you for life.

#America


This over and over again. If an individual goes bankrupt-- loser for life. If a businessman goes bankrupt 4 or 5 times-- tenacious winner who will not give up!!
 
You some cold motherfuckers calculating how much money you can make by burying research on how many people your product is going to kill?

You get to declare bankruptcy and start again.

You a 18 year old kid with a half developed brain, takes out some loans you can’t afford to try to get an education like everyone says you supposed to?

Sorry, that gonna be with you for life.

#America

Don't care. Those 18 year old's had chances to be pharmacists on the street, but they fell for the meme of a degree. That's on them. It's 2019.
 
These are the people who are a danger to America. Not globalists. Not the deep state. Not the media. Nothing is hidden. There is no conspiracy. It's right here out in the open.

These people are the enemies of America.
 
That's just the cost of doing business for these guys.

Theyll resurrect as Urduep Pharma eventually and get back to curing all our illnesses.

I've got a good idea. Whether or not it results in less opioids, I don't know. First, you take all the adult members of the Sackler family and hang them in public. Then you take their children and give them to Bayer as hostages to prevent further uprisings.
 
Don't care. Those 18 year old's had chances to be pharmacists on the street, but they fell for the meme of a degree. That's on them. It's 2019.
How much does college cost in Canada?

Oh, that’s right, nothing.

#firstworldproblems.
 
These are the people who are a danger to America. Not globalists. Not the deep state. Not the media. Nothing is hidden. There is no conspiracy. It's right here out in the open.

These people are the enemies of America.
They are the globalists, the deep state and the media though <Lmaoo> that's why they can do it out in the open. They're also the courts and the judges that are about to help them move into their next phase.
 
How much does college cost in Canada?

Oh, that’s right, nothing.

#firstworldproblems.

Canada doesn't have free college, yet, and people attending top universities like UofT end up 10's of thousands in debt. Again, that is their call though and their right to incur debt.
 
I've got a good idea. Whether or not it results in less opioids, I don't know. First, you take all the adult members of the Sackler family and hang them in public. Then you take their children and give them to Bayer as hostages to prevent further uprisings.

Well that's how a Soviet would do it. Par for the course at this point, I guess.
 
They are the globalists, the deep state and the media though <Lmaoo> that's why they can do it out in the open. They're also the courts and the judges that are about to help them move into their next phase.

That's just not true. There is no secret FBI operative helping them. They arent sending secret orders to CNN.

It's just simply bribing politicians for less regulation and more corporate protection. That's it. They dont need to hide cause even if they break the law, they still arent accountable.

There is no conspiracy. No secret agenda. Just money changing hands and people refusing to acknowledge reality.
 
Any person who has a hand in feeding this poison to another human being needs to be dragged into a public square, drawn and quartered.
 
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