The Sacklers could get away with it
Appallingly, legal experts expect the court to give the Sacklers what they want … The July 30 [2020] deadline for filing claims in Purdue’s bankruptcy proceedings potentially implicates not just claims against Purdue, but also claims against the Sacklers. The Sacklers may yet again benefit from expansive powers that bankruptcy courts exercise in complex cases.
What they propose instead is to be shielded from all OxyContin lawsuits, protecting their tremendous personal wealth from victims’ claims against them. What’s more, a full liability release would provide the Sacklers with more immunity than they could ever obtain in a personal bankruptcy filing, which would not protect them from legal action for fraud, willful and malicious personal injury, or from punitive damages … The Constitution vests only Congress with the power to enact bankruptcy law, the essence of which is prescribing by statute how much wealth a debtor must surrender to creditors in order to obtain a discharge. But Congress has never given a green light for the courts to create a liability discharge process for those – like the Sacklers – who have not submitted all of their assets to the control of a bankruptcy court by filing bankruptcy…
Original Article (New York Times):
The Sacklers could get away with it
Artwork Fair Use: Public Domain
Recent Comments