WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked a settlement reached with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that required members of the Sackler family who once controlled the company to pay $6 billion but shielded them from future lawsuits over the nation’s opioid crisis.
The high court’s decision, which was unsigned and noted no dissents, came in response to a request from the Biden administration to put the settlement reached last year between Purdue and state and local governments on hold. The Supreme Court also agreed to hear arguments in the case later this year.
A federal appeals court in New York approved the company’s bankruptcy plan earlier this year. But a U.S. government trustee, part of the Justice Department, last month asked the Supreme Court to put that ruling on hold. The government argues lower courts should not have shielded the Sacklers from liability.
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The administration told the Supreme Court that the Sackler family withdrew about $11 billion from Purdue before the company filed for bankruptcy. The family agreed to contribute $6 billion, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the court, but only on the condition that it receive “a release from liability that is of exceptional and unprecedented breadth.”
Michele Sharp, a Purdue spokesperson, said the company is confident in the legality of “our nearly universally supported Plan of Reorganization, and optimistic that the Supreme Court will agree.” She said the company is disappointed that the trustee, “despite having no concrete interest in the outcome of this process, has been able to single-handedly delay billions of dollars in value that should be put to use for victim compensation, opioid crisis abatement for communities across the country, and overdose rescue medicines.”
The Justice Department declined to comment on the Supreme Court’s order.
