Purdue Pharma OxyContin Ruling Lets Sacklers Off the Hook
The bankruptcy judge should have been willing to push through a settlement without giving the family immunity.
Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family got what they wanted.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
There is only one bankruptcy judge in White Plains, New York: Robert D. Drain, a former bankruptcy lawyer who has been on the bench for nearly two decades. That means, of course, that if a company decides to file for bankruptcy in White Plains, Drain will preside over its restructuring.
Over the years, dozens of companies have done just that, including Delphi Automotive, Hostess Brands, Sears Holding Corp. — and, most recently, Purdue Pharma LP, the infamous maker of OxyContin, the addictive painkiller that triggered the opioid crisis in the U.S. Bankruptcy lawyers can shop for venues they think will be favorable to their case, and a lot of them bring their corporate clients to Drain’s court. And though Drain told the Wall Street Journal last year that any notion of legal friendliness was “an offensive fantasy,” the bitterly fought settlement in the Purdue Pharma case he announced from the bench on Wednesday would seem to provide ammunition for his critics.