America’s courts weigh in on how firms resolve liability claims

The long-running legal battle over America’s opioid epidemic was reignited when, on August 10th, the country’s Supreme Court said it would review an earlier settlement secured by Purdue Pharma, a main character in the saga. Back in 2021 a federal judge had approved a bankruptcy plan for Purdue—the maker of OxyContin, a highly addictive painkiller—under which the business was to be restructured as a public-benefit company with all future profits going towards settling claims from victims and funding addiction-treatment programs. Members of the Sackler family, which owns the drugmaker, were to contribute $4.5bn (later increased to $6bn) towards the settlement.