Purdue Pharmaceutical—maker of the popular painkiller OxyContin—filed for bankruptcy in 2019 after an onslaught of lawsuits accused the company of contributing to the nation’s opioid crisis. Because of its bankruptcy, these lawsuits were stayed (i.e., paused) for six months. During this time, Purdue proposed a global settlement that “could be worth more than $10 billion over time, including the value of drugs it is producing and a contribution of at least $3 billion in cash from members of the Sackler family that owns the company.” This settlement, however, was not sufficient for many of Purdue’s opponents. Letitia James, New York’s Attorney General, argued that it “cheats Americans out of billions of dollars, allows the Sacklers to evade responsibility, and lets this family continue peddling their drugs to the world.” Given this opposition, it is therefore likely that many of the lawsuits against Purdue will resume when the six-month litigation stay ends this month.
About Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP
Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP focuses on complex civil litigation, including securities, antitrust, wage and hour and consumer class actions as well as shareholder derivative and merger and transactional litigation. The firm is headquartered in New York, and maintains offices in California, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Since its founding in 1995, Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP has served as lead or co-lead counsel in numerous high-profile cases which ultimately provided significant recoveries to investors, direct purchasers, consumers and employees.
To schedule a free consultation with our attorneys and to learn more about your legal rights, call our offices today at (877) 247-4292 or (212) 983-9330.
Faruqi & Faruqi
New York office
Tel: (212) 983-9330
Fax: (212) 983-9331