Purdue Pharma’s Opioid Deal Hinges on Divisive Legal Maneuver
- Plan forces dissenters to relinquish claims against Sacklers
- Federal courts split on legality of settlement’s foundation
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Purdue Pharma LP and its owners, members of the billionaire Sackler family, are betting big on a controversial area of bankruptcy law.
The OxyContin maker has for nearly two years been working toward federal court approval of its landmark opioid settlement, which would hand all of its assets -- along with more than $4 billion from its owners -- to cities, states and counties fighting the U.S. opioid crisis. But the plan, which will finally be floated to its bankruptcy judge in the coming weeks, hinges on permanently insulating its owners from opioid lawsuits by way of a divisive legal maneuver.