CHUMP CHANGE –
Jan. 31, 2022 – The judge found the reorganization plan improperly shielded Sackler family members, who had not filed for Chapter 11 themselves, from opioid litigation. The mediator, former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman, said any additional contribution from the Sacklers would be solely for opioid abatement. She asked that talks be extended to Feb. 7, a request that could be considered at a bankruptcy-court hearing on Tuesday. he report described marathon negotiating sessions held on Jan. 25-26 in New York that ran more than 12 hours each day and involved two unidentified state attorneys general who participated in person and another who joined by Zoom.
The settlement agreement had been opposed by at least eight state attorneys general, including Bob Ferguson in Washington state and William Tong in Connecticut.
Purdue, the maker of the highly addictive OxyContin opioid painkiller, filed for bankruptcy in 2019 in the face of thousands of lawsuits accusing it and the Sacklers of fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic through deceptive marketing. The opioid abuse crisis has led to nearly 500,000 overdose deaths over two decades, according to U.S. data.
