WHITE PLAINS, New York – A federal bankruptcy judge has given conditional approval to a $10 billion bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma to settle more than 3,000 lawsuits about the company’s role in the national opioid crisis.
CHARLESTON – While a bipartisan group of state attorneys general have announced a tentative $26 billion settlement with four drug companies over their roles in the opioid epidemic, West Virginia will not be a part of the agreement.
CHARLESTON -- West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says he wants to do what’s best for the state, and he doesn’t know if that means signing off on Purdue Pharma’s $7 billion bankruptcy plan.
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - A $574 million settlement between the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm and state attorneys general includes a $15 million payment to their professional group, the National Association of Attorneys General.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Unsecured creditors of bankrupt OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma have objected to the Sackler family’s $225 million settlement with the U.S. government, saying the agreement as proposed could allow the feds to keep the money even if the Sacklers are forced into bankruptcy.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Florida has filed an objection to attempts by Native American tribes, hospitals, schools and lawyers for insurance consumers and opioid-addicted infants to file class actions against the estate of bankrupt Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, saying their claims aren’t suited for class treatment.
HONOLULU (Legal Newsline) - In an order issued quietly late last year, a Hawaii judge dismissed the state’s lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors - at least the third time in two years a judge has rejected theories the pharmaceutical industry is responsible for the crisis of addiction and overdose deaths caused by legal and illegal drugs.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - The lawyers representing Purdue Pharma in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings have submitted their first two bills to the court and they show how expensive this multibillion-dollar restructuring will be: Nearly $8 million for seven weeks of work, with one partner billing almost a half-million dollars for the month of October alone.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Fighting has erupted among creditors in the multibillion-dollar Purdue Pharma bankruptcy, as attorneys representing individual claimants and other creditors object to paying millions of dollars in fees to private lawyers representing governmental claimants - including thousands of municipalities with federal lawsuits against the opioid industry.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy granted the OxyContin maker and its controlling Sackler family a six-month stay of opioid litigation as they try to negotiate a $10 billion-plus settlement of all outstanding claims.
A New York judge has scheduled a Jan. 20 trial for opioid lawsuits by New York State and two counties, setting a short timeline for the companies to settle or face potentially crippling liability.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has warned his fellow AGs that a reported $50 billion settlement of opioid claims will fall apart unless the states demand tight controls on fees to private lawyers and make sure the rest of the money is directed toward programs designed to address the opioid crisis, instead of state general funds.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - The federal bankruptcy judge overseeing Purdue Pharma’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization granted the OxyContin manufacturer and its controlling Sackler family a two-week respite from opioid litigation to work on a settlement that appeases warring state attorneys general and a growing list of municipal and private plaintiffs.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Purdue Pharma’s already contentious bankruptcy will face a pair of big tests later this week as the OxyContin manufacturer appears in hearings over issues including paying its employees and halting more than 2,600 lawsuits against the company and members of the controlling Sackler family.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy protection, as expected, setting off an expensive process the company says is the only way to “bring order to the unrelenting chaos” of “piecemeal litigation” against it.
CINCINNATI (Legal Newsline) - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has asked a federal appeals court to halt or dismiss the first two bellwether trials in opioid multidistrict litigation, in a major escalation of the long-brewing fight between state AGs and cities/counties seeking their own share of opioid lawsuit proceeds.
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The federal judge overseeing nationwide litigation against the opioid industry stripped plaintiffs of potentially important evidence when he prohibited three witnesses from testifying that drug-company marketing and educational programs caused physicians to prescribe too many opioids to their patients.
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) – The federal judge overseeing about 2,000 opioid lawsuits has rejected the argument that his planned seven-week trial will be a free-for-all of evidence and legal theories that will feature dozens of defendants and confused jurors.
