Los Angeles Times - 08.09.2019

A16 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 WST LATIMES.COM

CLEVELAND — Oxy-
Contin maker Purdue
Pharma is expected to file
for bankruptcy after settle-
ment talks over the nation’s
deadly overdose crisis hit an
impasse, attorneys general
involved in the talks said
Saturday in a message to
their counterparts across
the country.
The breakdown puts the
first federal trial over the
opioid epidemic on track to
begin next month and sets
the stage for a complex legal
drama involving nearly ev-
ery state and hundreds of lo-
cal governments.
Purdue, the family that
owns the company, and a
group of state attorneys gen-
eral had been trying for
months to find a way to
avoid trial and determine
Purdue’s responsibility for a
crisis that has cost 400,
American lives over the last
two decades.
The email from the attor-
neys general of Tennessee
and North Carolina, ob-
tained by the Associated
Press, said that Purdue and
the Sackler family had re-
jected two offers from the
states over how payments
under any settlement would
be handled and that the
family declined to offer
counterproposals.
“As a result, the negotia-
tions are at an impasse, and
we expect Purdue to file for
bankruptcy protection im-
minently,” Tennessee Atty.
Gen. Herbert Slatery and
North Carolina Atty. Gen.
Josh Stein wrote in their
message, which was sent to
update attorneys general
throughout the country on
the status of the talks.
Purdue spokeswoman
Josephine Martin said,
“Purdue declines to com-
ment on that in its entirety.”
A failure in negotiations sets
up one of the most tangled

bankruptcy cases in the nation’s history. It would leave virtually every state and about 2,000 local governments that have sued Purdue to battle it out in bankruptcy court for the company’s remaining as- sets. Purdue threatened to file for bankruptcy this year and was holding off while ne-

gotiations continued. It’s not entirely clear what a breakdown in settlement talks with Purdue means for the Sackler family, which is being sued separately by at least 17 states. Those lawsuits are likely to continue but face a signifi- cant hurdle because it’s believed the family — major

donors to museums and other cultural institutions around the world — has transferred most of its multibillion-dollar fortune overseas. Pennsylvania Atty. Gen. Josh Shapiro, who was one of the four state attorneys general negotiating with Purdue and the Sacklers, said Saturday that he in- tends to sue the family, as other states have. “I think they are a group of sanctimonious billion- aires who lied and cheated so they could make a hand- some profit,” he said. “I truly believe that they have blood on their hands.” In March, Purdue and members of the Sackler family reached a $270-million settlement with Oklahoma to avoid a trial on the toll of opioids there. The Sacklers could not immediately be reached for comment Sat- urday. Under one earlier pro- posed settlement, Purdue would enter a structured

bankruptcy that could be worth $10 billion to $12 billion over time. Included in the to- tal would be $3 billion from the Sackler family, which would give up its control of Purdue and contribute up to $1.5 billion more by selling another company it owns, Cambridge, England-based Mundipharma. Shapiro said the attorneys general believed what Purdue and the Sacklers were offering would not have been worth the reported $ billion to $12 billion. In their latest offers, the states also sought more as- surances that the $4.5 billion from the Sacklers would ac- tually be paid, according to the message circulated Sat- urday: “The Sacklers re- fused to budge.” In their message, Ten- nessee’s Slatery and North Carolina’s Stein said the states have already begun preparations for handling bankruptcy proceedings. “Like you, we plan to continue our work to ensure

that the Sacklers, Purdue and other drug companies pay for drug addiction treat- ment and other remedies to help clean up the mess we al- lege they created,” they wrote. The nearly 2,000 lawsuits filed by city and county governments — as well as unions, hospitals, Native American tribes and lawyers representing babies who were born in opioid with- drawal — have been consoli- dated under a single federal judge in Cleveland. Most of those lawsuits also name other opioid makers, distributors and pharmacies in addition to Purdue, some of which have been pursuing their own set- tlements. Purdue also faces hundreds of other lawsuits filed in state courts and had sought a wide-ranging deal to settle all cases against it. The company has been the most popular target of state and local governments because of its OxyContin, the prescription painkiller many of the government claims point to as the drug that gave rise to the opioid epidemic. The lawsuits claim the company aggres- sively sold OxyContin and marketed it as a drug with a low risk of addiction despite knowing that it wasn’t. The impasse in the talks comes about six weeks be- fore the scheduled start of the first federal trial under the Cleveland litigation, overseen by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster. That trial will hear claims about the toll the opioid epidemic has taken on two Ohio counties, Cuyahoga and Summit. A bankruptcy filing by Purdue would most cer- tainly remove the company from that trial. The bankruptcy judge would have wide discretion on how to proceed. That could include allowing the claims against other drug- makers, distributors and pharmacies to move ahead while Purdue’s cases are handled separately. Three other manufacturers have already settled with the two Ohio counties to avoid the initial trial.

Purdue bankruptcy filing is expected

OxyContin’s maker

and state attorneys

general hit impasse in

settlement talks over

deadly overdoses.

associated press

CHRISTINEGagnon protests in Stamford, Conn., last year with others who lost loved ones to overdoses.

Jessica HillAssociated Press

FIRE DEPARTMENT medics aid a possible overdose victim at a gas station in downtown Cincinnati.

John MinchilloAssociated Press

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