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Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Bankruptcy Plan Shielding Sacklers from Opioid Liability 

HeadlineDec 05, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case challenging Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan, which shields members of the billionaire Sackler family from civil liability over their role in creating and fueling the opioid epidemic. In 2019, Purdue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it faced thousands of lawsuits seeking trillions of dollars in compensation from the Sacklers, who profited from selling the highly addictive drug OxyContin while fully aware it was directly fueling the opioid epidemic in America. According to the CDC, opioid overdoses have killed over half a million people in the U.S. over the past two decades. Outside the Supreme Court Monday, family members held photos of loved ones lost to the opioid crisis. This is Rebecca Finnerty, whose son died of an overdose in 2016.

Rebecca Finnerty: “They were all little slaps on the wrist with little financial fines. And if that continues, there’s really no real justice here for what’s happened in this country. There are hundreds of thousands of lives that are gone, and a fine doesn’t do it. And hiding behind bankruptcy protection because you’re a billionaire — they’re worth $11 billion. And it’s ridiculous that they profited off the deaths of our children and are walking away with that.”

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