Legal shield for Purdue Pharma owners is at heart of appeals

The end of the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case has left a bitter taste for those who wanted to see more accountability for members of the Sackler family.

The Sacklers will give up ownership of the company, go out of the international opioid business and pay $4.5 billion in cash and charitable assets under the settlement. But they also will escape any future liability over the nation’s addiction and overdose crisis as part of the deal that was given preliminary approval this week by a federal bankruptcy judge.

Some state attorneys general and one federal government office are planning appeals.

The question at the heart of their arguments: Is it appropriate for members of a wealthy family that did not file for bankruptcy themselves to get such a broad protection?

Attorneys and victim advocates involved in a case that included lawsuits from some 3,000 governments and other entities said the members of the Sackler family who have owned Purdue played instrumental roles in overseeing the company and marketing OxyContin. Critics say the company's best-selling prescription painkiller helped fuel the opioid crisis in the U.S.

“They get to retain literally billions of dollars they took out of Purdue Pharma while it was causing addiction and death all across our country and all across the world,” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh told The Associated Press in an interview.

Frosh said he was considering an appeal.

Lawyers for Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Washington state and the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, an arm of the federal Department of Justice tasked with protecting the bankruptcy process, have said they intend to appeal.

Under the settlement, Sackler family members are getting what's known in the bankruptcy world as a “third-party release.” It's one of the most...