Updated
May 2, 2023
The Sackler family and Purdue Pharma agreed to pay about $6 billion to resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits — here is where the money is aimed and why individual payouts have been slow to arrive.
$6 Billion Purdue Pharma Opioid Settlement
The Billionaire Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, have offered to pay a total of $6,000,000,000 to settlement over 2,000 lawsuits filed against Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers and distributors. Purdue Pharma generated more than $31 Billion of revenue from the sale of OxyContin, a powerful painkiller that has been claimed to lead to widespread addiction, leading to the overdose and death of over 700,000 drug deaths in the United States alone since 1999.Purdue Pharma, a leading producer of opiate drugs in the United States since the 1990's, has gone through bankruptcy proceedings as a result of legal claims made against it for its headliner and profit-maker drug, OxyContin. While Purdue Pharma denied hooking and addicting Americans to opiates for years, the landslide of lawsuits forced Purdue's hand into filing bankruptcy in 2019.
According to the $6 Billion opioid settlement, the Sackler family's production of OxyContin had devastating and immensely irresponsible consequences for overdoses and addiction to opiates in the United States for years. At least 90% of the $6 Billion settlement will be paid for by the various members and estates of the Sackler family, whose net worth by some estimates is over $11 Billion as of 2023.
Similarly to other class action lawsuits that have been settled, the settling party, in this case the Sackler family of Purdue Pharma, did not admit to any wrongdoing or accept any responsibility for their company's actions and role in the opioid crisis. As part of the opioid settlement agreement, members of the Sackler family have indemnity and are protected from certain legal liabilities in exchange for the Billions in case they will pay out to various states and defendants.
As of April 29, 2023 it has been a year since the settlement agreement was made between the various States, and the defendants (the Sackler Family and Purdue Pharma). However, the case has been stalling as bankruptcy proceedings with Purdue are complicated its creditors requirements to be part fo the over-$6 Billion settlement agreement.
How Do I Qualify to Get Paid in the Purdue Pharma Settlement?
The Sackler family opioid settlement is one of the few, if not the only, settlement that aims to pay out those who were damaged directly by the use of opioids like OxyContin. The estimated amount of recovery is hard to estimate but will go towards those who lost their lives, those in recovery, or loved ones of those who were affected by OxyContin addiction or related issues. About 150,000 people have already filed a claim against the Sackler family or Purdue Pharma, which led up to the company's bankruptcy filing. According to some estimates, people can expect to receive from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars as part of settlement payouts. Those that have personal injuries that they hope to claim against Purdue Pharma had a deadline to file such a claim in 2020.Free settlement alerts
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