The US Supreme Court on Thursday suspended an agreement between the owners of the Purdue laboratory, accused of having contributed to the opiate crisis, and several states, relating to compensation of up to 6 billion dollars. The Court granted a request from the Ministry of Justice, which criticized this agreement for exonerating the Sackler family, historical owner of the pharmaceutical laboratory, from any future lawsuits by victims, without their consent, to the exception of the federal state.
The highest American court also agrees to take up the case and hear the parties in December 2023. It asks them to present their arguments to it to determine whether the Bankruptcy Code authorizes a court to validate this type of immunity without the consent potential future complainants. The company declared itself in a reaction to AFP “optimistic” about the approval by the Supreme Court of its bankruptcy plan but deplored that the recourse of the Ministry of Justice resulted in “delaying the payment of billions dollars in compensation to victims”.
The Sackler family are accused of years of supporting a heavy-handed promotion of the painkiller OxyContin, despite knowing that it was highly addictive. The overprescription of this opiate is generally considered to be the trigger for a crisis that has claimed more than half a million victims in 20 years in the United States. Targeted by an avalanche of lawsuits, the laboratory declared bankruptcy in 2019 and has since been negotiating a plan, the latest version of which provides for its closure by 2024 in the United States for the benefit of a new entity and the payment of at least minus $5.5 billion over 18 years.
In its argument to the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice criticizes this plan, validated by a decision of a Federal Court of Appeal, of “absolutely, unconditionally, irrevocably, completely, finally and forever exonerating” the family Sackler from any conceivable civil lawsuit related to opioids. This exemption “is not permitted by the Bankruptcy Code and constitutes an abuse of the bankruptcy system,” he said.
The ministry therefore asks the Court to overturn the lower court’s decision, under penalty of “leaving in place a roadmap for companies and wealthy individuals to hijack the bankruptcy system and thus avoid their responsibilities. in terms of massive compensation”.
