Suits against OxyContin owners on hold; negotiations ordered
Even though one judge rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's sweeping settlement of thousands of lawsuits over the opioid crisis, another refused Wednesday to allow litigation to move ahead just yet against members of the Sackler family who own the company — but also ordered negotiations for a reworked settlement.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain on Wednesday granted Purdue's request to extend an injunction until Feb. 1 protecting the company and the Sacklers from litigation. He also ordered Purdue, the Sacklers, the states and other parties to negotiate a new settlement.
In a hearing conducted Wednesday via video conference, the White Plains, New York-based judge warned the family and others that he would end the protections early if there are not serious talks toward a new settlement. “If the parties do not negotiate in good faith,” he said, “they will face the consequences of the injunction unraveling.”
Drain is the same judge who approved the company's settlement in September.
The deal had been hashed out over two years of negotiations and mediation in bankruptcy court. Eventually, lawyers for the overwhelming majority of local governments and states signed on. The plan called for members of the Sackler family to give up ownership of Purdue, which would be transformed into a new company whose profits would be used to fight the opioid crisis.
Sackler family members would also contribute $4.5 billion in cash and charitable assets, with the money to go to victims of the crisis and efforts to end the crisis, which has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000, counting overdoses of both prescription opioids and illicit ones, such as heroin and illegally produced fentanyl.
In exchange for the contributions, Sackler family members were also...