Supreme Court Blocks Nationwide Opioid Settlement

The Supreme Court rejected a multi-billion dollar settlement against Purdue Pharma on Thursday afternoon that would have shielded the OxyContin maker from future lawsuits brought by families and individuals affected by the opioid crisis.

In a 5–4 decision, the liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson sided with conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett. 

Gorsuch wrote for the majority, “The Sacklers seek greater relief than a bankruptcy discharge normally affords for they hope to extinguish even claims for wrongful death and fraud and nothing in present law authorizes the Sackler discharge.”

The ruling overturns a $6 billion settlement awarded to victims of the opioid crisis.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Sonia Sotamayor, and Elena Kagan voted in favor of the original agreement which would have paid victims but immunized the company and the Sacklers from future liabilities. 

Writing in dissent, Kavanaugh stated, “Today’s decision is wrong on the law and devastating to the more than 100,000 opioid victims and their families. Opioid victims are now deprived of the substantial monetary recovery that they long fought for and finally secured after years of litigation and opioid victims and other future victims will suffer greatly in the wake of today’s unfortunate decision.”

In a statement released Thursday, Purdue called the ruling “heart crushing.”

“It invalidates a settlement supported by nearly all of our creditors – including states, local governments, personal injury victims, schools, and hospitals – that would have delivered billions of dollars for victim compensation, opioid crisis abatement, and overdose rescue and addiction treatment medicines,” the company wrote.

The Sacklers have endured years of public criticism for the role Purdue played in exacerbating the opioid crisis, an era that witnessed the death of more than 600,000 Americans, in part, due to the widespread availability of OxyContin. The Sacklers pulled more than $12 billion from the company before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 as thousands of lawsuits alleged Purdue marketed the drug as safe and effective when its executives privately knew of its dangers.