USA Opioid lawsuits: US Supreme Court blocks billion-dollar settlement
The US Supreme Court has blocked a billion-dollar settlement over the mass prescription of painkillers. The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a controversial core aspect of the US pharmaceutical company Purdue's insolvency deal is not legal, which would oblige the Sacklers, the family that owned the company for many years, to pay up to six billion US dollars (around 5.6 billion euros), but would also exonerate them under civil law.
27.06.2024, 18:35
SDA
The Sacklers had neither personally filed for bankruptcy nor "agreed to put anywhere near all of their assets on the table for the opioid victims," wrote Chief Justice Neil Gorsuch in the reasoning. "Yet they seek to have a broad range of present and future claims against them dismissed, including those for fraud and willful assault."
The family is accused of marketing the painkiller Oxycontin using reckless and aggressive methods while concealing the dangers of addiction. The billion-dollar payment negotiated with the governments of various US states and individual plaintiffs is intended to benefit victims and their families as well as the fight against the opioid epidemic in the USA. As part of the deal, the Sacklers would have made the billion-dollar payment and relinquished control, but in return would have been protected from possible further legal proceedings. This aspect was at issue in the Supreme Court's decision.
It was divided on the issue: four judges disagreed with their colleagues. The ruling was "devastating" for the opioid victims and their families, according to the dissenting opinion written by Judge Brett Kavanaugh. It is unclear how the settlement will now proceed.
Opioids are in part synthetically produced drugs with, among other things, pain-relieving properties. However, they harbor risks of dependency and a high potential for abuse. In the USA, the opioid epidemic has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths from overdoses in recent years, according to the authorities.
