Sackler family wins immunity from opioid lawsuits, but must give up Purdue Pharma ownership, pay $4.3 billion

"Members of the Sackler family who are at the center of the nation's deadly opioid crisis have won sweeping immunity from opioid lawsuits linked to their privately owned company Purdue Pharma and its OxyContin medication," Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio reports for NPR. "The deal grants 'releases' from liability for harm caused by OxyContin and other opioids to the Sacklers, hundreds of their associates, as well as their remaining empire of companies and trusts. In return, they have agreed to pay roughly $4.3 billion, while also forfeiting ownership of Purdue Pharma."

The Sacklers, who have earned at least $10 billion from opioid sales, will remain one of the wealthiest families in the world. They have admitted no wrongdoing and refused to explicitly apologize in court for their role leading the company, Mann reports: "The settlement has incensed opioid activists and many legal scholars, who describe the outcome as a miscarriage of justice." Several states have said they intend to appeal the ruling of U.S. District Judge Robert Drain.

Drain called the settlement, which he approved Wednesday in White Plains, N.Y., "a bitter result," and said he expected a larger settlement since he believes that "at least some of the Sackler parties have liability" for opioid Oxycontin claims, Mann reports. "The costs of further delay, he said, and the benefits of an agreement he described as 'remarkable' in its ability to help abate the epidemic, tilted toward approval," Jan Hoffman of The New York Times reports.

The Sacklers "are receiving protections that are typically given to companies that emerge from bankruptcy, but not necessarily to owners who, like the Sacklers, do not themselves file for bankruptcy," Hoffman reports, noting that the family will remain one of the richest in the nation. "While the settlement serves as a benchmark in the nationwide opioid litigation aimed at covering governments’ costs and compensating families, it also means that a full accounting of Purdue’s role in the epidemic will never unfold in open court. Purdue pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for drastically downplaying OxyContin’s addictive properties and, years later, for soliciting high-volume prescribers."

Nearly 500,000 Americans have died from opioid overdose in the past 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.