Can money compensate for a life destroyed by a greedy family and their products?
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My husband and I recently returned from visiting his relatives in Norway. Even in that enviable nation, a mother shared her anguish about the 45 yr old son who is still “living” with addiction to prescription opioids. He is not really living – he is just surviving with little hope for his future as rehab failures mount up.
On Thursday, June 27 the Supreme Court handed down their decision on the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case in which it would have paid billions for victims and states BUT would have shielded the Sackler family from any future liability.
The majority (5-4) ruled that the bankruptcy court did not have the authority to release the Sackler family members from opioid victims’ legal claims. The Biden administration had argued the bankruptcy court could not release the Sacklers from the claims.
The U.S. Trustee, which oversees bankruptcies under the Justice Department, as well as eight states, Washington, D.C., and the city of Seattle, objected to the Purdue Pharma deal. The trustee argued that the liability the Sacklers face could induce voluntary settlements more favorable than those under the plan and that a win for the Sacklers “would provide a ‘roadmap for corporations and wealthy individuals to misuse the bankruptcy system’ in future cases,” Gorsuch wrote in the opinion.(1)
It was not that the justices felt Purdue should not have to pay out the billions to help in a very small way to compensate for the criminal actions that cost millions of lives in America and around the world. No. If I understand it correctly – and feel similarly – the decision wants Purdue to pay AND the Sackler family to be criminally liable for what they, as the owners and leaders of Purdue, have done.
NPR reports, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote: “In this case, the Sacklers have not filed for bankruptcy or placed all their assets on the table for distribution to creditors, yet they seek what essentially amounts to a discharge. No provision of the [bankruptcy] code authorizes that kind of relief.” (2)
Many of the parents and loved ones of those who have died in the past few decades from the deceptive marketing and intentional pushing of Oxy’s by Purdue are justifiably discouraged and upset. They have labored for years to get to this point and saw the settlement as the best resolution with practical help for those still struggling with addiction and the public funds needed for increased rehab facilities.
Ironically, Purdue called the ruling “heart-crushing” and that they intend to pursue a resolution (via bankruptcy) to “emerge as a public benefit company.” (3) I wonder what planet Purdue, the Sacklers, and their corporate lawyers live on.
Nothing in all the first-hand evidence from within their corporate cabal could ever lead one to remotely consider there was anyone involved who had a “heart.” And what makes them think that giving back some of the money they made illicitly can turn them into “a public benefit company?”
In a statement sent to NPR, members of the Sackler family, who deny any wrongdoing, said they would work to renegotiate a settlement, but they also expressed some defiance, describing themselves as the victims of “profound misrepresentations about our families and the opioid crisis…Purdue Pharma was facing thousands of lawsuits for falsely marketing OxyContin as non-addictive and fueling the opioid crisis. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2019. Before that, the Sackler family, which owns Purdue, had moved about $11 billion of profits into personal accounts. In his ruling, Gorsuch said members of the family had created a “milking program” designed to shelter opioid profits from their company’s bankruptcy. (2)
As discouraging as this ruling seems for parents such as myself and my husband who hold Purdue in part responsible for our son’s addiction to Oxy’s and subsequent overdose death from heroin – the cheaper alternative – I believe there are enough devastated and determined parents who will not give up the fight to see this company AND this family pursued until complete justice is meted out.
Money can never compensate for the loss of even a single life destroyed by the greed and corruption of the Sackler family – but it can surely be effective in hitting them in their soft spot where it will hurt the most: not their hearts, but their bank accounts.
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/families-lost-opioid-crisis-devastated-supreme-courts-decision-reject-rcna159364
- https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/06/29/nx-s1-5021798/supreme-court-overturns-opioid-settlement-with-purdue-pharma-that-shielded-sacklerssupreme-court-overturns-sackler-settlement-delaying-funds-meant-for-communities-battling-opioids#:~:text=Hourly%20News-,Supreme%20Court%20overturns%20opioid%20settlement%20with%20Purdue%20Pharma%20that%20shielded,funds%20for%20communities%20battling%20addiction.
- https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4743403-supreme-courts-ruling-purdue-pharma-settlement/
Opiate Nation 