OxyContin maker’s lawyer warns of long, expensive litigation
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press
A lawyer for Purdue Pharma says the company’s settlement plan is the only way to avoid long and expensive litigation. The lawyer made his case Monday to a bankruptcy judge who is expected to rule this week on whether to accept the OxyContin maker’s reorganization plan. It calls for using the company’s future profits and more than $4 billion from members of the Sackler family who own it to abate the opioid crisis and pay individual victims. Members of the Sackler family would also get protection from lawsuits over opioids. Judge Robert Drain said he’ll also consider the views he’s read in letters from people who lost loved ones to opioid overdoses.
