Vermont’s receipt of its share of a national settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, cleared its first hurdle when the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York determined that the settlement did not violate the Bankruptcy Code, the Vermont Business Magazine reported. Under the settlement agreement, Vermont is to receive $36.4 million and up to an additional $1.454 million if certain conditions are met. The settlement is conditioned on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturning an earlier District Court. The result will be a nearly three-fold increase over the $12.58 million allocated to Vermont in Purdue’s original bankruptcy plan — a plan that Attorney General T.J. Donovan objected to and appealed in December 2021. Donovan has been fighting to hold the industry accountable for its role in promoting and profiting from the opioid crisis since 2017 when his office began investigating opioid manufacturers and distributors. The settlement with Purdue and the Sacklers, which Vermont agreed to in principle last week, follows last month’s final approval of a $64 million agreement with opioid distributors and Johnson & Johnson and a settlement of $1.5 million with McKinsey in 2021. The total amount of opioid settlements negotiated by Donovan is now more than $100 million for Vermont.
