In a notable dissent, Justice Brett Kavanaugh has called upon Congress to address the fallout from a recent Supreme Court decision that, he argues, has severe implications for opioid victims. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the case Harrington v. Purdue Pharma nullifies the bankruptcy plan involving Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. The decision restricts the power of bankruptcy courts to offer comprehensive settlements to mass-tort victims, consequently affecting over 100,000 opioid victims and their families.
Justice Kavanaugh, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, stated that the court’s decision reinterpreted the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, severely limiting the relief that opioid victims had long sought and eventually secured through arduous litigation. According to Kavanaugh, the Court’s ruling essentially “deprived” these victims of a significant monetary recovery, putting them back at square one.
The majority opinion held that the bankruptcy code does not allow the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, to be released from future opioid litigation claims without the “consent of affected claimants.” Kavanaugh emphasized that this ruling leaves victims and creditors with what he described as “the essential equivalent of a lottery ticket” for any potential future recovery, which he views as unlikely.
He further noted that “there is no good reason to believe that any of the victims or state or local governments will ever recover anything” without these releases. Kavanaugh’s dissent concluded with a plea for Congress to intervene, suggesting that legislative action is essential to mitigate the predicted chaos and harm resulting from the Supreme Court’s decision.
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