Purdue Pharma's $7B opioid settlement is set for votes from victims and cities
Advertisement
The settlement is a way to avoid trials with claims from states alone that total more than $2 trillion in damages.
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
This month, 49 states announced they had signed on to the proposal. Only Oklahoma, which has a separate settlement with the company, is not involved.
Massachusetts is in line for up to $105 million from the settlement, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Tuesday.
If approved, the settlement would be among the largest in a wave of lawsuits over the past decade as governments and others sought to hold drugmakers, wholesalers, and pharmacies accountable for the opioid epidemic that started rising in the years after OxyContin hit the market in 1996. The other settlements together are worth about $50 billion, and most of the money is to be used to combat the crisis.
Advertisement
In the early 2000s, most opioid deaths were linked to prescription drugs, including OxyContin. Since then, heroin and then illicitly produced fentanyl became the biggest killers. In some years, the class of drugs was linked to more than 80,000 deaths, but that number dropped sharply last year.
Last year, the US Supreme Court rejected a version of Purdue's proposed settlement. The court found it was improper to protect members of the Sackler family from lawsuits over opioids, even though they themselves were not filing for bankruptcy protection.
In the new version, groups that don't opt in to the settlement would still have the right to sue members of the wealthy family whose name once adorned museum galleries around the world, as well as programs at several prestigious US universities.
Under the plan, the Sackler family members would give up ownership of Purdue. They resigned from the company's board and stopped receiving distributions from its funds before the company's initial bankruptcy filing in 2019. The remaining entity would get a new name and its profits would be dedicated to battling the epidemic.
Most of the money would go to state and local governments to address the nation's addiction and overdose crisis, but potentially close to $900 million would go directly to individual victims. That makes it different from the other major settlements.
The payments would not begin until after a hearing, likely in November, in which Lane would be asked to approve the entire plan if enough affected parties agree.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Do Cops Still Need a Warrant To Search Your Home in an 'Emergency'?
You're probably familiar with the old adage that "a man's home is his castle." It's the idea that agents of the state may not lawfully enter your home uninvited for any reason that suits them; rather, the state's agents must have a legitimate and verifiable cause. James Madison and his colleagues wrote this view into the U.S. Constitution via the Fourth Amendment, which famously protects "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that involves the modern application of that adage and its venerable constitutional corollary. Depending on the outcome, it may prove to be one of the most consequential Fourth Amendment cases in years. At issue before the Supreme Court this fall in Case v. Montana is the following question: "whether law enforcement may enter a home without a search warrant based on less than probable cause that an emergency is occurring, or whether the emergency-aid exception requires probable cause." In other words, at what point may police officers enter your home without a warrant if they think that an emergency might be happening inside? The matter arose in 2021 when the ex-girlfriend of a man named William Trevor Case told the authorities that Case had threatened to kill himself during a phone call with her. The cops showed up at Case's house but nobody answered the door. Looking through a window, they saw empty beer cans, a notepad, and an empty handgun holster. After debating among themselves for some 40 minutes about what do to next, the cops finally decided to enter without a warrant via the unlocked front door. (I pause here to note that 40 minutes does sound like a sufficient amount of time for the police to at least try to get a search warrant.) Case was upstairs hiding in a closet. When he revealed himself by opening the closet's curtain, the officer who was searching the room shot him, striking Case in the abdomen. Case was thus shot by a cop, even though the cop had entered Case's home without a warrant for the ostensible "emergency" purpose of preventing Case from shooting himself. Case was later charged with assault on that officer, with the charge ultimately amended to state that Case "knowingly or purposefully caused reasonable apprehension of serious bodily injury in Sgt. Richard Pasha when he pointed a pistol, or what reasonably appeared to be a pistol, at Sgt. Richard Pasha." Case's lawyers sought to have the evidence used against him ruled inadmissible on the grounds that it was the fruit of an "illegal search and seizure of [Case] and his residence." But the Montana Supreme Court ruled against Case, stating that "while an individual is entitled to a right to privacy in their home, a warrantless entry is permissible if it is reasonable given the facts and circumstances." The U.S. Supreme Court will now decide whether the state high court's judgment can be reconciled with the Fourth Amendment. Given the significant constitutional stakes involved, it is no wonder that this case has already attracted the keen interest of prominent civil liberties groups from across the political spectrum. For instance, among those who have filed amicus briefs in support of Case are the libertarian Cato Institute, the liberal American Civil Liberties Union, and the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund. These groups may disagree with each other on plenty of other legal issues, but they are in agreement here that Case's Fourth Amendment rights were abused. As the brief filed by the Cato Institute and Americans for Prosperity Foundation put it, "Warrantless home entries based on mere reasonable suspicion of exigent circumstances violate the Fourth Amendment and needlessly threaten the safety of citizens and law enforcement. If Montana police did not have probable cause to enter Case's home, their search should be declared unconstitutional." We'll soon find out whether a majority of the justices agree with that assessment or whether they prefer the Montana Supreme Court's more lenient interpretation of what counts as "reasonable" behavior by the cops. The post Do Cops Still Need a Warrant To Search Your Home in an 'Emergency'? appeared first on Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
15 hours ago
- New York Post
Man convicted of killing woman abducted from insurance office to be executed in Florida's 10th execution of the year
A man convicted of abducting a woman from a Florida Panhandle insurance office and killing her is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening. Kayle Bates, 67, is set to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. It would be Florida's 10th death sentence carried out in 2025, further extending the state record for a single year. Two more executions are planned within the next month. Advertisement 3 Kayle Bates, 67, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke, under a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. AP Since the US Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each. Advertisement Bates was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery in the June 14, 1982, killing of Janet White in Bay County in the Florida Panhandle. Bates abducted White from the insurance office where she worked, took her into some woods behind the building, attempted to rape her, stabbed her to death and tore a diamond ring from one of her fingers, according to court documents. Attorneys for Bates have filed appeals with the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court, as well as a federal lawsuit claiming DeSantis' process for signing death warrants was discriminatory. 3 Bates was found guilty of murdering Janet White in Bay County on June 14, 1982, along with charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, and attempted sexual battery. Family Handout Advertisement The federal lawsuit was dismissed last Tuesday, with the judge finding problems with the lawsuit's statistical analysis. The court ruled that even if the numbers were correct, they wouldn't necessarily prove discrimination. On the same day, the Florida Supreme Court denied Bates' pending claims, including arguments that evidence of organic brain damage had been inadequately considered during his second penalty phase. The court ruled that Bates has had three decades to raise these claims. A US Supreme Court decision is still pending on Bates' final appeal. 3 It would be Florida's 10th death sentence carried out in 2025, further extending the state record for a single year. AP Advertisement A total of 28 men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the US, and at least 10 other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Curtis Windom, 59, is set to become the 11th person executed in Florida on Aug. 28. He was convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992. David Pittman, 63, would be the 12th person executed in Florida if his death sentence is carried out as scheduled Sept. 17. He was found guilty of fatally stabbing his estranged wife's sister and parents at their Polk County home before setting it on fire in 1990. Florida executions are carried out using a three-drug lethal injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Miami Herald
6 days ago
- Miami Herald
Ex-boyfriend thought woman was with other man, then shoots her son, FL cops say
A man thought his ex-girlfriend was with another man, then he chased her car down and shot her 7-year-old son in the back seat, Florida authorities said. On Aug. 12, the Bay County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of 32-year-old Sammie Lee Underwood III three days after the shooting. Underwood's ex-girlfriend told deputies Underwood met her and her two kids at a seafood restaurant in Callaway Aug. 9, then 'he became upset as he believed she had another man in the vehicle with her,' according to the arrest affidavit. She denied it, but he was 'extremely irate' and didn't believe her, deputies said. The woman then grabbed her son and daughter and left in her car. Underwood started chasing them in his SUV and tried to run them off the road while firing off shots, the woman recounted, according to the affidavit. Underwood eventually pulled up next to her and shot out the window at her car, then the woman said her 7-year-old son started screaming in the back seat, investigators said. She fled Underwood again, but this time he didn't follow her, deputies said. She drove to her sister's, then the sister drove them to a hospital, according to investigators. The boy was shot in the shoulder, then the bullet lodged in his back, according to the sheriff's office. He's recovering from the injury. Law enforcement found Underwood's SUV abandoned, but they searched for Underwood himself for two days before they spotted him leaving an apartment and getting in a vehicle, deputies said. They followed him and conducted a 'vehicle take-down,' then during his arrest he was found to have an array of drugs with him, the Bay County Sheriff's Office said. Underwood is charged with: Four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weaponAggravated battery with a deadly weapon Discharging a firearm from a vehicle Discharging a firearm into an occupied conveyanceHit and run, leaving the scene of an accident Tampering with evidence Grand theft of a firearm Felon in possession of a firearm Possession of fentanyl, hydrocodone, OxyContin, methamphetamine and marijuana less than 20 grams Investigators said they also learned a woman had given Underwood a ride after the shooting and helped him get rid of the gun. She's charged with accessory after the fact to a second-degree felony, violation of probation and possession of marijuana less than 20 grams. Callaway is a suburb of Panama City in the Panhandle.
