Supreme Court rejects nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, AP Explains

(27 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 27 June 2024
1. Wide exterior of Supreme Court building
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Sherman, The Associated Press:
"The Supreme Court rejected a nationwide settlement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid OxyContin."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Stamford, Connecticut - exact date unknown
3. Various exterior shots of Purdue Pharma headquarters
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 27 June 2024
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Sherman, The Associated Press:
"The case would have provided billions of dollars in treatment for opioid addiction, and would have required the Sackler family, members of the Sackler family who own the company, to pay 6 billion dollars."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Stamford, Connecticut - 8 May 2007
5. STILL logo on exterior of Purdue Pharma headquarters
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 27 June 2024
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Sherman, The Associated Press:
"But the settlement would have freed the Sacklers from any other lawsuits regarding OxyContin."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Montpelier, Vermont - 19 February 2013
7. STILL of OxyContin bottle and pills
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 27 June 2024
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Sherman, The Associated Press:
"The lineup was unusual in that two members of the court's liberal wing and two members of the court's conservative wing are united in a dissenting opinion."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Stamford, Connecticut - exact date unknown
9. Wide exterior of Purdue Pharma headquarters ++NIGHT SHOT++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 27 June 2024
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Sherman, The Associated Press:
"The decision came in a settlement that had been painstakingly negotiated by state and local officials and victims of the opioid epidemic, and it would have helped resolve a bankruptcy that had been declared by Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. In a 5-4 decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that federal law does not permit people who are not themselves declaring bankruptcy from getting a shield from civil lawsuits. And in this case, the members of the Sackler family had not themselves declared bankruptcy."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Boston - 2 August 2019
11. STILL image of protesters gathered outside a courthouse where a judge was to hear arguments in Massachusetts’ lawsuit against Purdue Pharma
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 27 June 2024
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Sherman, The Associated Press:
"The majority of the opioid victims involved in the case had supported the settlement. And there was just a small minority, a vocal one, who had objected. But the Biden administration had intervened on behalf of the objectors, saying that it felt that federal law did not permit the kind of agreement that had been negotiated in this case to shield the Sackler family members from liability."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Stamford, Connecticut - 17 August 2018
13. STILL image of pills bottles family and friends who lost loved ones to OxyContin and opioid overdoses left in protest outside Purdue Pharma headquarters
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 27 June 2024
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Sherman, The Associated Press:
"The agreement that had been hammered out was pretty much in its final stages. It was really just awaiting the Supreme Court's up or down vote. Now that the court has rejected the agreement, it's pretty much back to the drawing board and it's unclear what will happen next. Although lawyers involved in the case say they expect negotiations to resume."
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