New opioid settlement with Purdue and Sackler family getting few objections

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers representing OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, branches of the Sackler family that own it, cities, states, counties, Native American tribes, people with addiction and others across the U.S. are expected to deliver a nearly unanimous message for a bankruptcy court judge Friday: Approve a plan to settle thousands of opioid-related lawsuits against the company.

FILE – Several 5-mg pills of Oxycodone are seen June 17, 2019, in Zelienople, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

If U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane abides, it will close a long chapter — and maybe the entire book — on a legal odyssey over efforts to hold the company to account for its role in an opioid crisis connected to 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999, including deat