Friday, March 22, 2019

Bankruptcy may impact opioid lawsuits
The coalition of East Tennessee district attorneys general, including Jimmy Dunn, that brought a lawsuit against several prescription opioid producers, may have a problem collecting damages. Recent news reports suggest that Purdue Pharma may file for bankruptcy. The privately owned firm reportedly has funneled $4 billion from the company to the family ownership. Fourth Judicial District Attorney General Dunn says bankruptcy may get in the way of collecting sizable damages from the defendants, resulting in a collection of pennies on a dollar, because of the large number of pending lawsuits. The lawsuit alleges that Purdue Pharma directed its opioids to the 19 East Tennessee counties, conducted a fraudulent campaign to convince physicians that OxyContin® created minimal risk of addiction;Purdue mislead doctors and the public about the need for, and addictive nature of, opioid drugs led to an opioid epidemic, created an environment for thousands of individuals in Tennessee to become addicted to opioids, and fueled a dramatic increase in East Tennessee counties in the number of individuals exposed and addicted to OxyContin, Roxicodone®, Opana® and other opioids. According to the action, the producer defendants knew their products were being diverted to the illegal drug market, "but did nothing to stop it — choosing profit over people".


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