CareersPublic school districts nationwide have until July 30, 2020 to file a proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding of Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, for its alleged role in the opioid epidemic. Submitting a claim may allow school districts to receive money due to the toll that addiction has taken on schools.
Districts may determine the estimated size of their claims, which are estimated to range from $2.5 – $27 million, by entering information at the Purdue Proof of Claim Estimates website. However, districts are unlikely to receive large sums of money, given the number of parties involved in the proceedings. Any money received will be paid out over multiple years.
Schools districts across the country, including Chicago Public Schools and Miami-Dade Public Schools, have already filed proofs of claim. The deadline to file was extended last month.
In September of 2019, Purdue Pharma L.P., a privately held pharmaceutical company, filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York as part of a plan to settle litigation with dozens of states and other plaintiffs who say the company fueled the opioid crisis through improper marketing and inappropriate distribution of prescription opiate medications around the country. The settlement has an estimated value of $5 billion.