OxyContin Bankruptcy Deal Could Shortchange Opioid Victims, Supreme Court Hears

The Supreme Court heard the Biden administration’s objections to the bankruptcy plan filed by opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma, which includes a controversial settlement shielding the company’s founding family from future opioid-related liability.
The government argued that opioid victims could be shortchanged if the settlement is allowed to stand, a claim the company denied. The Biden administration said in court papers that the settlement as currently constituted would provide “a roadmap for corporations and wealthy individuals to misuse the bankruptcy system to avoid mass-tort liability.”
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court put the settlement temporarily on hold. A lower court previously upheld the settlement, finding that claims against the Sackler family were too closely interwoven with the company to be separated from those claims and that letting lawsuits continue against the family would undercut the company’s push for a bankruptcy settlement….