Attorney General JB McCuskey recently announced that all 55 attorneys general, representing all eligible states and U.S. territories, agreed to sign on to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. The Sackler family has also informed the attorneys general of its plan to proceed with the settlement, which would resolve litigation against Purdue and Sacklers for their role in the creating and worsening the opioid crisis across the country.
Now that the state sign-on period has concluded, local governments across the country will be asked to join the settlement contingent on bankruptcy court proceedings.
“The Sacklers aggressively marketed their drugs to communities like ours, without a care in the world about the lives they were destroying, only focused on their bottom line,” Attorney General McCuskey said. “The settlement holds the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma accountable for the pain they’ve caused our state and our country. Now, hopefully, we can start to recover and turn the page on the opioid crisis.”
Under the Sacklers’ ownership, Purdue made and aggressively marketed opioid products for decades, fueling the largest drug crisis in the nation’s history. The settlement ends the Sacklers’ control of Purdue and their ability to sell opioids in the United States.
Communities across the country will directly receive funds over the next 15 years to support addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery. This settlement in principle is the nation’s largest settlement to date with individuals responsible for the opioid crisis. While most other states will receive their settlement payments over 15 years, West Virginia will receive as much as $53 million from this settlement on an accelerated payment schedule over the next nine years due to the disproportionate impact opioids have had on the State, its citizens, and its communities.
Most of the settlement funds will be distributed in the first three years. The Sacklers will pay $1.5 billion, and Purdue will pay roughly $900 million in the first payment, followed by $500 million after one year, an additional $500 million after two years, and $400 million after three years.
Like prior opioid settlements, the settlement with Purdue and the Sacklers will involve resolution of legal claims by state and local governments. The local government sign-on and voting solicitation process for this settlement moving forward will be contingent on bankruptcy court approval. A hearing is scheduled on that matter in the coming days.
Including this new settlement, West Virginia has obtained settlements totaling over $1 billion from companies that helped fuel the opioid epidemic.
Attorney General McCuskey is joined in securing this settlement in principle by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
