(PatriotWise.com) – Purdue Pharma’s creditors last Monday sought permission to directly sue the owners of the OxyContin maker following the Supreme Court decision in late June that derailed a previous bankruptcy deal.
Last month, the Supreme Court rejected the bankruptcy settlement with Purdue Pharma that would have discharged the members of the wealthy Sackler family who own the company.
In a motion filed in US bankruptcy court on July 8, the court-appointed committee of the company’s creditors argued that they needed to be able to sue the Sacklers directly, arguing that the family should not be permitted to avoid responsibility “for their grotesque misconduct in creating and fueling the opioid crisis.”
Under the settlement rejected by the Supreme Court, the Sackler family members who own Purdue Pharma would have only paid roughly $6 billion and relinquished ownership of the company. The rest of their billions would have been spared.
The creditors said they planned to enter mediation and settlement talks with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family before pursuing the matter in court.
The Sackler family said through a spokesperson that the motion filed by the court-appointed committee was “riddled with factual errors” and was not in keeping with the stated goal of finding a resolution that would provide billions of dollars to the fight against the opioid crisis.
While the Sackler family denies any wrongdoing, they have in the past expressed regret that Purdue’s OxyContin helped to fuel the opioid epidemic in the US.
The committee said in its motion that it supported the previous settlement, which it said was the most efficient way to provide funding to the victims. At the same time, it argued that the claims against the Sackler family amount to far more than the $6 billion the Sacklers agreed to pay.
The committee asked the judge to grant it “derivative” standing so that it could pursue Purdue Pharma’s legal claims against the family.
The company claims that the Sacklers drained more than $11 billion from Purdue Pharma which has left the company liable for other lawsuits.
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