Judges on a U.S. appeals court appeared hesitant on Friday to revive a legal shield that would protect members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma from lawsuits related to the prescription opioid OxyContin, a key to ending the company’s bankruptcy.
During oral arguments, a three-judge panel on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals probed the limits of a bankruptcy judge’s authority to protect non-bankrupt parties like the wealthy Sacklers.
One judge described the court’s own past rulings as “a flimsy ship” to build on, while another gave little weight to Purdue’s argument that the Sackler protections were necessary to secure funding for opioid settlements.
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