Supreme Court freezes Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy plan

The U.S. Supreme Court has frozen a bankruptcy reorganization plan for OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma that would shield members of the Sackler family, who own the firm, "from civil claims in exchange for paying up to $6 billion to address the U.S. opioid crisis," Axios reports. "Justices will review the agreement and hear arguments in the case in December."

Adrriel Bettelheim writs that the ruling "marks a win for the Biden administration after the Justice Department argued the bankruptcy court couldn't grant the family members legal immunity from claims by opioid victims." The company said it was optimistic that the high court would find ten plan to be legal, NBC News reports.

"The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May that the bankruptcy plan could proceed, reversing a lower court ruling against immunity since the Sackler family members weren't declaring bankruptcy themselves," Bettelheim notes. "The deal furthered a settlement that would send billions of dollars to states, local governments and Indigenous tribes affected by the opioid epidemic. But experts questioned whether it would lead to copycat cases, in which corporations tried to limit liability through bankruptcy courts. Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 after facing thousands of lawsuits over its marketing" of OxyContin, a painkiller widely blamed for starting the opioid epidemic.