A federal judge has nullified a $4.5 billion settlement with the family that founded Purdue Pharma, the company that pushed the use of opioids like OxyContin, spurring the addiction epidemic, Reuters reports.
The order negates the shield the agreement would have provided to the Sackler family from being sued by private parties, and it also disrupts the company’s bankruptcy. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon’s ruling notes that the bankruptcy court in which the agreement was approved did not have the authority to shield the Sackler family from civil lawsuits.
In September, a federal bankruptcy court judge approved a deal in which Perdue would declare bankruptcy, and the Sackler family would pay $4.5 billion in fines and settlements which would shield the family from future civil suits. The Sackler’s had moved about $10 billion from the company to their personal accounts in the decade from 2008 to 2018. About half a million Americans have died of opioid overdoses since 1999.