U.S. Supreme Court docket
Supreme Court docket briefly blocks $6B opioid settlement, agrees to contemplate Sackler household protect
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The U.S. Supreme Court docket on Thursday agreed to contemplate the propriety of a chapter plan for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that shielded the corporate’s present house owners from future civil legal responsibility in alternate for a $6 billion payout.
The Supreme Court docket briefly paused the Chapter 11 reorganization plan and granted cert Thursday, report the New York Times, Reuters and SCOTUSblog.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals at New York had approved the plan, wherein the Sackler household agreed to pay $6 billion to resolve opioid litigation in alternate for future civil legal responsibility safety.
It’s common for corporations in chapter to hunt legal responsibility safety, however on this case, a nondebtor—the Sackler household—was shielded with out submitting for chapter, the New York Instances explains. The 2nd Circuit held that the Chapter Code permits a launch of claims in opposition to nondebtors by third-party litigants who didn’t consent to it.
Federal appeals courts are break up on the difficulty. The bulk are in settlement with the 2nd Circuit, the appeals courtroom stated in its Might 30 resolution.
The U.S. Division of Justice had argued that permitting the 2nd Circuit resolution to face “would depart in place a roadmap for rich companies and people to misuse the chapter system to keep away from mass tort legal responsibility.”
The Supreme Court docket will hear arguments in December.
The case is Harrington v. Purdue Pharma.
