Purdue Pharma judge says Sacklers faces “substantial risk” of liability

August 23 (Reuters) – The judge in charge of Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy said on Monday that some members of the Sackler family that owns the OxyContin manufacturer face a “substantial risk” of liability and that they could be hit by “huge amounts of money “for the company’s claims fueled the opioid epidemic.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, made the statement during the final arguments in a trial over Purdue’s proposed reorganization plan.

“I think there’s a substantial risk that the Sacklers, or some of them, could be responsible for large amounts of money,” said Drain, who added that “the issue is where you pull the line.”

Under the deal, which Purdue says is worth more than $ 10 billion, the Sacklers would provide about $ 4.5 billion and receive legal protections against future opiate-related litigation.

Drain did not explicitly state what way to govern, but suggested he felt the deal was enough. But he urged lawyers for the Sacklers and the nine states that oppose the deal to continue talks of agreement over the next two days.

More than 500,000 Americans have died since 1999 from opioid overdose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Drain told U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Fogelman that it would be “crazy” to turn down billions of dollars from the Sacklers just because they are not enough to solve the entire U.S. opioid crisis.

The judge is expected to issue a formal ruling on the deal this week.

The money would go to various entities and individuals with opioid claims, as well as state and local opioid reduction programs.

Critics of the deal argue that the disclaimers are too broad.

A lawyer representing the states of Washington and Oregon, which oppose the plan, told Drain Monday that approving the deal would be a “historic mistake.”

The judge also held that courts of appeal generally support the types of releases Sacklers would receive if they met certain rules.

At the start of Monday’s hearing, a Sacklers attorney said they had agreed to restrict releases from litigation to exclude protections for the family from non-opioid-related claims.

But the core of the releases, which protects the Sacklers from opioid-related litigation, remains intact.

During last week’s testimony, members of the Sackler family said they would not contribute if they did not receive the releases.

Report by Maria Chutchian in New York; Edited by Noeleen Walder, David Gregorio and Peter Cooney

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