Untangling revenge from justice in the $6 bn opioid addiction settlement case in the US

livemint.com:

Here is a legal-ethical challenge worthy of King Solomon or King Vikramaditya, both known for their ability to find solutions to knotty problems. A settlement for opioid addiction in the US combines $6 billion in damages for individual victims, local governments, states, and tribes, with immunity for the Sackler family behind Purdue Pharma, which aggressively promoted of OxyContin, a prescription painkiller that figures majorly in the United States’ opioid addiction and overdose deaths crisis.

An arm of the Justice Department has challenged the settlement, as it lets the Sackler family off the hook, their finances intact, while their company goes bankrupt, paying off compensation/damages. The US Supreme Court is hearing the case, with protesters camped outside the court, one group demanding immediate payout of compensation, and a second group insisting that the Sacklers should be penalized for the harm their company caused and they profited from.

If the settlement is allowed to proceed — it has already been upheld by a Federal appeals court — it would see rich folks escaping responsibility for having caused widespread suffering, including death, with only their company going bankrupt paying damages. If the settlement is blocked, it would take a fresh bout of protracted litigation to obtain fresh commitment to pay damages to the victims and affected communities.

Opioid overdose deaths exceed 100,000 in the US, one-sixth the number who die from cancer. Of course, OxyContin is just one of the many opioids causing addiction, debilitating lives and families.