3 min read . Updated: 17 Mar 2021, 01:29 PM IST Individuals who filed claims over opioid addiction or overdose deaths against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP are projected to receive as much as $48,000 under the company’s bankruptcy plan.
Estimated payouts under Purdue’s chapter 11 proposal, filed Monday, depend on the severity of an individual’s injury or addiction, with the least severe cases getting an estimated $3,500. Administrators would determine individuals’ eligibility for compensation and rate the severity of their opioid injuries through a point system, according to court papers filed Monday. Specific eligibility and qualification requirements will be made public later.
A preliminary analysis projects victims who qualify for the most severe injuries will receive between $16,000 and $48,000, less severe cases likely would get between $5,000 and $31,000, and the least severe cases likely would get $3,500, according to court papers. Purdue’s court filings said it is impossible to determine with certainty how much a specific personal-injury claimant will get from the trust. The analysis was performed by lawyers representing a group of people with personal-injury claims against Purdue, court papers say.
The compensation procedures are part of a broader reorganization plan that offers a blueprint for resolving more than 100,000 personal-injury claims related to OxyContin, Purdue’s flagship opioid painkiller.
The bankruptcy plan, which tracks the ways that other companies have resolved massive legal liability through chapter 11, was criticized Tuesday by state attorneys general who haven’t signed on to Purdue’s restructuring deal and by some lawyers representing opioid victims who believe it doesn’t provide enough funding for those affected by addiction.
Payments would come from a special trust, funded with between $700 million and $750 million, according to court documents. It would be one of several trusts that would be created to fund opioid abatement programs across the U.S., should the reorganization be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y.
Purdue’s plan could be challenged in coming months by opioid victims and state attorneys general. The personal-injury trust will get $300 million after the chapter 11 plan is approved and goes effective; the remaining $400 million or $450 million would be provided either in annual installments or through insurance proceeds, according to court documents.
Covered injuries include overdose deaths, addiction and babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, known as NAS, which is caused by exposure to opioids in the womb.
On Tuesday, lawyers representing children diagnosed with NAS said most such children are likely to get $3,500 under the proposal. The money set aside for these children is inadequate to cover the cost of long-term aid and treatment they will require to live healthy lives, said Scott Bickford, a lawyer representing babies diagnosed with NAS.
“We are only beginning to understand the impact of NAS and the resources children need to live healthy lives and even survive infancy," Mr. Bickford said.
A coalition of 24 U.S. states attorneys generals said Tuesday that although Purdue’s latest plan is an improvement over an earlier deal from 2019, “it falls short of the accountability that families and survivors deserve." Purdue came into bankruptcy with a partial deal supported by some states already in hand. The company has been negotiating for months to broaden support for the deal. States opposing the restructuring proposal include California, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.
Purdue was tipped into chapter 11 by a wave of lawsuits related to OxyContin that began building in 2017. The company pleaded guilty in November to three federal felonies, including paying illegal kickbacks and deceiving drug-enforcement officials
Members of the Sackler family who own Purdue will have no role in the company’s governance or operations when it leaves bankruptcy. The reorganized Purdue instead will be overseen by a new independent board focused on addressing the opioid crisis and developing and distributing medicines to reverse overdoses and treat opioid addiction, the company has said.
Judge Robert Drain is expected to consider approving Purdue’s bankruptcy plan in August, according to court documents.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
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