Purdue Pharma’s Sackler family could face $1 trillion in damages if a second settlement fails

With the fate of its OxyContin settlement in the air, Purdue Pharma is back in court as its owners, the Sackler family, face a potential onslaught of lawsuits worth an estimated $1 trillion in damages.

Lawyers for the $5.2 billion-worth family attended a hearing Tuesday concerning whether the lawsuits against the Sackler family will be paused while settlement negotiations occur, Forbes reported.

It comes after the Supreme Court threw out a $6 billion settlement in June that would have funded opioid treatment, but also would have shielded the Sackler family from future lawsuits.

The high court ruled that Purdue could not enter a settlement to protect the Sacklers from existing and future civil claims. That decision essentially forced the company’s court-appointed group of creditors and the Sacklers to start over in the settlement negotiations, which are now back underway.

On Monday, the bankruptcy estate of Purdue said it would support the move to sue the Sackler family if a settlement isn’t agreed upon.

If that happens, “the only path that remains is litigation, and that litigation could be protracted,” the creditors said, according to Forbes. The claims against the Sackler family could exceed $1 trillion in damages, the outlet said.

Through a spokesperson, the Sackler family condemned the creditors’ decision Monday to back a suit against them if the negotiations fail.

The creditors’ filing is “riddled with factual errors” and “contrary to the goal of working together towards a resolution that provides billions of dollars for communities and people in need,” the spokesperson said, according to Reuters.

The suits concerned whether Purdue and its owners, the Sacklers, spurred the opioid crisis by falsely advertising OxyContin. Purdue launched the drug in 1996 and is largely blamed for the ensuing opioid crisis thanks to how it marketed the drug.