Most opioid lawsuits target the drugmakers. This one targets their consultant. Here is how the case against McKinsey & Company fits into the broader opioid litigation — what it alleges, the settlements already reached, and the $650 million Justice Department resolution.
Allegations · Some Matters Resolved Without Admission
This page describes litigation and its resolutions. The civil claims by MDL plaintiffs are allegations that have not been proven at trial, and McKinsey resolved the government and payor matters without admitting the underlying civil liability. Where this page states a settlement, guilty plea, or Justice Department resolution as fact, those are documented, completed actions, which are noted as such. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Is This About?
The opioid epidemic has produced one of the largest waves of litigation in U.S. history, most of it aimed at the companies that made and distributed the drugs. This case is different: it targets McKinsey & Company, the global management-consulting firm that advised some of those drugmakers.Governments, health plans, and injured individuals allege that McKinsey advised opioid manufacturers — above all Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin — on marketing and sales strategies designed to increase opioid sales, and that this consulting work helped fuel the crisis. The federal cases are consolidated in multidistrict litigation known as MDL 2996, In re: McKinsey & Company, Inc., National Prescription Opiate Consultant Litigation, before Senior Judge Charles R. Breyer in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The JPML deliberately kept it separate from the larger prescription-opiate MDL in Ohio, which targets manufacturers and distributors.
McKinsey has already resolved a number of related matters — with state attorneys general, with local governments and payors in the MDL, and with the U.S. Department of Justice — while the personal-injury side of the litigation has been narrowed by the court. What follows separates the proven resolutions from the still-pending allegations.
What Do the Lawsuits Allege?
Plaintiffs allege that McKinsey served for years as a strategic consultant to opioid manufacturers, and that it advised Purdue Pharma on how to market and sell OxyContin more aggressively — including advice that plaintiffs describe as intended to "turbocharge" sales — even as the addiction crisis deepened. They allege McKinsey helped counter regulatory and public-relations pressure on its clients. These are allegations advanced by the plaintiffs in the civil litigation; they have not been proven at trial.The MDL groups plaintiffs into several tracks reflecting who was allegedly harmed:
• Governmental and public entities — cities, counties, and other subdivisions
• School districts
• Third-party payors — health insurers and employee-benefit plans
• Personal-injury plaintiffs, including babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) and their mothers
The Settlements Within the MDL
Two settlements have been approved inside MDL 2996:• $230 million — resolving claims by cities, counties, and school districts. Judge Breyer granted final approval in 2024.
• Roughly $78 million — resolving claims by third-party payors (health insurers and benefit plans), establishing a fund to reimburse them for opioid-prescription costs.
Both settlements are administered through their own dedicated notice programs for the classes of government entities, school districts, and payors involved. They are not for individual members of the public — there is no general individual-consumer claim form in the MDL.
The Earlier State Settlements & the $650M Justice Department Resolution
The MDL sits alongside two much larger, already-completed resolutions that are documented, proven facts rather than allegations:In February 2021, McKinsey reached settlements with state attorneys general totaling about $573 million, resolving claims by 47 states, the District of Columbia, and five territories; as additional states signed on, the aggregate to the states grew to roughly $641.5 million. As part of that resolution McKinsey also agreed to release tens of thousands of internal documents about its opioid work.
Then, in December 2024, McKinsey agreed to a five-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and to pay $650 million to resolve criminal and civil investigations into its work for Purdue Pharma. The Justice Department described it as the first time a management-consulting firm was held criminally responsible for advice that resulted in a client's crime. Importantly, the firm itself did not plead guilty — it entered a deferred prosecution agreement. Separately, a former senior partner, Martin Elling, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for destroying records to impede the investigation, and was sentenced to six months in federal prison.
What Remains — the Personal-Injury Track
The part of the litigation still most in flux is the personal-injury track, including claims brought on behalf of NAS infants and their mothers. Judge Breyer has narrowed these claims over successive rulings — dismissing some legal theories (such as certain public-nuisance and fraud theories) for failure to plead the required kind of injury, while at various points allowing negligence and failure-to-warn claims by mothers and NAS plaintiffs to proceed. The precise current status of the remaining injury claims has continued to shift, so anyone tracking it should confirm against the live docket.As of the JPML's July 1, 2026 report, the MDL remained open with roughly 235 actions pending. Because the injury claims are individually litigated and the class settlements are limited to governments and payors, there is no public claim form on this page for an individual to file.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the McKinsey opioid lawsuit about?
Governments, health plans, and injured individuals allege that the consulting firm McKinsey & Company advised opioid manufacturers — above all Purdue Pharma — on marketing and sales strategies to boost OxyContin sales, and that this work helped fuel the opioid epidemic. The federal cases are consolidated in MDL 2996 in the Northern District of California. These are allegations; McKinsey has resolved several matters without admitting the underlying civil liability.
Has McKinsey settled the opioid claims?
In part. Within MDL 2996, Judge Charles Breyer granted final approval in 2024 to a $230 million settlement covering cities, counties, and school districts, and a separate roughly $78 million settlement resolving claims by third-party payors (health insurers and benefit plans). Separately, in 2021 McKinsey reached about $573 million in settlements with state attorneys general — a figure that grew to roughly $641.5 million as additional states joined. Other tracks of the MDL remain.
Did McKinsey face criminal charges?
In December 2024, McKinsey agreed to a five-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department and to pay $650 million to resolve criminal and civil investigations into its work for Purdue Pharma. The firm itself did not plead guilty. A former senior partner, Martin Elling, separately pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for destroying records and was sentenced to six months in prison. The Justice Department described it as the first time a management-consulting firm was held criminally responsible for advice that resulted in a client's crime.
Is there a claim form for individuals in the McKinsey opioid MDL?
No. The settlements that exist are for classes of government entities, school districts, and third-party payors, administered through their own notice programs — not for individual members of the public. There is no general individual-consumer claim form in MDL 2996, and nothing to file on this page.
What claims remain in the McKinsey opioid MDL?
The personal-injury track — including claims brought on behalf of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) and their mothers — has been substantially narrowed over successive rulings by Judge Breyer, who dismissed some theories while allowing others to proceed at various stages. The MDL remained open with roughly 235 actions pending as of the JPML's July 1, 2026 report. The exact status of the remaining injury claims is best confirmed against the current docket.
Related Mass Torts & Sources
• Purdue Pharma & Sackler family $6B opioid settlement — the resolution involving McKinsey's best-known opioid client.• All mass tort lawsuits — OCA's index of active drug, device, and consumer-product MDLs.
Primary sources: the U.S. Department of Justice's December 2024 press release on the McKinsey resolution and the sentencing of its former senior partner; the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California's MDL 2996 case-of-interest page and settlement orders; state attorney-general announcements of the 2021 settlements; and the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) pending-MDL statistics.
Important Disclosures
This page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation. OpenClassActions.com is not a law firm and is not a claims administrator, and this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.Free settlement alerts
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