A federal judge-approved bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma will exclude tens of thousands of opioid victims from compensation, even though nearly 140,000 people filed claims seeking damages from the company’s criminal marketing of OxyContin. The $7.4 billion settlement, which includes $870 million earmarked for individual victims, will provide payments to fewer than half of those who originally applied, according to court records reviewed by ProPublica and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The exclusions stem from sharp changes made between Purdue’s initial bankruptcy proposal and a revised plan approved in November 2024. The Supreme Court had rejected the first settlement in 2024 because it shielded the Sackler family, Purdue’s multibillionaire owners, from future lawsuits. In the revised plan, settlement amounts for fatally overdosed family members dropped dramatically—from $48,000 under the previous proposal to as little as $8,000.
Most critically, the new plan eliminated a provision allowing victims to submit sworn affidavits in place of prescription records or medical documentation. That removal has made it impossible for thousands of people to qualify. Purdue sold painkillers for decades, and under most state laws, doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies retain prescription records for only a few years.
“I can’t turn up prescriptions for my son back when he was young, years ago,” said Ellen Isaacs of Michigan, whose son Ryan died from an overdose at 33 in 2018. “They’re not available anymore.” Ryan’s addiction began after he was prescribed OxyContin following a high school injury, Isaacs said.
Mary Jannotta, a Philadelphia-area deli worker, illustrates the human cost. After a botched 2008 back surgery, her doctor repeatedly prescribed OxyContin. She became dependent and eventually found her way to Kensington’s open-air drug market. She lost her car, her home, and her grandson, Tyler Cordeiro, who died of an overdose at 24 after pilfering her prescription pills as a teenager.
Of approximately 140,000 people who met the final claim deadline, about 63,000 filed evidence by late July 2025, according to a November court filing from settlement trust administrator Edward Gentle. A judge approved Purdue’s motion Tuesday to formally expunge roughly 80,000 individuals who missed that deadline from any payout under this settlement plan. The changes were negotiated out of public view for months and have received no prior media scrutiny.
Purdue’s attorneys said the company played no role in designing the claims process. The victims’ representatives at major law firm Akin endorsed the plan despite tighter criteria and reduced benefits.
Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/purdue-settlement-leaves-opioid-victims-behind
