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US Supreme Court Rejects Drug Deal that Protects the Sackler Family
The US Supreme Court has barred Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy deal, which would have insulated the company’s rich Sackler family owners from litigation for their participation in the country’s deadly opioid crisis.
The 5-4 judgment overturned a previous court verdict that maintained Purdue Pharma’s proposal to provide its owners immunity in return for paying up to $6 billion to resolve thousands of cases charging the firm with unlawfully deceptive promotion of OxyContin, a potent pain medicine released in 1996.
The US President Joe Biden’s administration, which had contested the settlement as a misuse of bankruptcy protections intended for financially distressed debtors rather than individuals like the Sacklers, who have not filed for bankruptcy, celebrated a triumph on Thursday when the verdict was rendered.
Purdue Pharma filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 to pay off its obligations. Almost all of these claims claimed OxyContin was a contributing factor in the beginning of the opioid crisis, which has resulted in over 500,000 overdose fatalities in the US over two decades.
Purdue Pharma’s reorganization might contain legal safeguards for the Sackler family.
The dispute concerned whether Purdue Pharma’s reorganization might contain legal safeguards for the Sackler family members who have not filed for personal bankruptcy under US bankruptcy law. Originally introduced in the context of asbestos lawsuits, these so-called “non-debtor releases” have found wider use among businesses wishing to use safeguards as a negotiating tool.
The US bankruptcy court authorized the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm’s bankruptcy settlement in 2021, and the corporation expects that it will provide $10 billion in value to its creditors—which include hospitals, state and municipal governments, individuals who have suffered from addiction, and others who have sued the company.
Eight states and the Biden administration contested the settlement. After the Sacklers agreed to increase their settlement fund contributions, all of the states renounced their resistance; nevertheless, the US Trustee, the Justice Department’s bankruptcy monitor, and a few individual opioid claimants persisted in their opposition.
The Supreme Court was informed by a group of over 60,000 persons who have filed personal injury claims owing to their exposure to opioid medications made by Purdue Pharma that they approve of the settlement, which includes the Sackler family’s legal protection.
The US Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit in Manhattan upheld the settlement in May 2023, ruling that non-bankrupt parties such as the Sacklers may be entitled to legal protection under federal bankruptcy law under exceptional circumstances.
It decided that actions against the Sacklers would jeopardize Purdue Pharma’s attempts to achieve a bankruptcy settlement because they were intimately related to lawsuits against the company’s owners.
In August 2023, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the government’s appeal of the 2nd Circuit’s decision and halted bankruptcy proceedings against Purdue Pharma and its affiliates.
During the December arguments, a lawyer from the Justice Department claimed that the Sackler family withdrew billions of dollars from Purdue Pharma before agreeing to pay up to $6 billion in the opioid settlement. The lawyer said the deal “permits the Sacklers to decide how much they will contribute.”.
Legal actions were taken against members of the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma because they contributed to the opioid crisis by using misleading advertising for their painkillers. In connection with the marketing of OxyContin in 2007 and 2020, the firm entered guilty pleas to charges of misbranding and fraud.
US Supreme Court Rejects Drug Deal that Protects the Sackler Family
After expressing remorse that OxyContin “unexpectedly became part of an opioid crisis,” members of the Sackler family denied culpability. In May 2023, they announced that “substantial resources for people and communities in need” would be provided by the bankruptcy settlement.
Purdue Pharma has accused the US Trustee of “single-handedly delaying billions of dollars in value that should be put to use for victim compensation, opioid crisis abatement for communities across the country, and overdose rescue medicines,” according to the legal documents.
Related CTN News:
NBC is bringing a version of legendary sportscaster Al Michaels back to the Olympics this summer, but with an unexpected twist: his voice will be powered by artificial intelligence.
On Wednesday, NBC said that it will utilize AI software to reproduce Michaels’ voice to offer daily Summer Games summaries to users of its Peacock streaming platform. This marks a significant milestone in the application of AI by a major media firm.
NBC | CTV Image
NBC To Use AI Version Of Announcer Al Michaels’ Voice For Olympics Recaps
The employment of an artificial intelligence voice for the Olympics comes at a time when technology has advanced dramatically, particularly in its ability to generate images, sounds, and text. This has sparked concerns in creative industries, such as journalism, regarding how artificial intelligence may—or should—be utilized.
A new tool, “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” will allow subscribers to create 10-minute highlights packages incorporating event updates, athlete back stories, and other related content based on their preferences.
The company stated that the highlights could be packaged in approximately 7 million distinct ways, based on 5,000 hours of live coverage in Paris, thereby making AI (artificial intelligence, not the guy) a far more efficient way to give individualized summaries.
“When I was approached about this, I was skeptical but obviously curious,” Michaels stated in a press statement. “Then I saw a demonstration of what they had in mind. I replied, ‘I’m in.'”
An NBC representative told CNN that Michaels is being rewarded for his participation.
A veteran broadcaster, Michaels is now the play-by-play sportscaster for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime. He is well noted for his work on earlier Olympic Games broadcasts for NBC and ABC and for announcing the Miracle on Ice Game at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
NBC | Fox Image
NBC To Use AI Version Of Announcer Al Michaels’ Voice For Olympics Recaps
NBC stated that the AI system was trained using previous NBC broadcast audio from Michaels.
The business stated that a team of NBC Sports editors will evaluate all of the content, including audio and footage, to ensure that it is factually correct and that names are pronounced correctly.
Beginning July 27, the highlights tool will be available on Peacock in web browsers and iOS and iPad apps.
SOURCE – CNN
Jamie Foxx has yet to publicly divulge the reason for his hospitalization last year, although he did share further facts during a videotaped encounter.
The Oscar-winning actor was hospitalized in April 2023 due to a health problem while filming the Netflix film “Back in Action” in Atlanta.
In a TikTok video posted this week, Foxx informs an unidentified group of people that he has a “bad headache” on April 11, 2023. He remembers asking his friend for an Advil, and then “I was gone for 20 days.”
Jamie Foxx Shares New Details About Health Crisis That Left Him ‘Gone For 20 Days’
“I don’t remember anything,” he claimed in a video shot on June 29 in Phoenix.
Foxx went on to say in the video that he was told his sister and daughter took him to the doctor, who him a cortisone shot. Another doctor told him something was “going on up there,” as Foxx pointed to his head.
“I won’t say it on camera,” he remarked throughout the video.
The singer is known to be discreet about his personal life, and he disappeared from the spotlight at the time due to what his daughter Corinne Foxx described as a “medical complication” on social media.
In July 2023, the “Ray” star revealed that he chose not to reveal more information because he did not want the public “to see me like that.”
“I want you to see me laughing, having fun, partying, cracking jokes, or performing in a movie or television show. I didn’t want you to see me with tubes coming out of me and wondering if I was going to make it,” he said in a video posted on Instagram at the time, adding that he felt like he had gone “to hell and back.”
Foxx provided another health update on his verified social media accounts in August 2023.
Jamie Foxx | Fox Image
Jamie Foxx Shares New Details About Health Crisis That Left Him ‘Gone For 20 Days’
“You are looking at a thankful man…” “I’m finally starting to feel like myself,” he wrote at the time. “The journey has been unexpectedly dark…” “But I can see the light.”
He added that he was “thankful to everyone who reached out and sent well wishes and prayers.”
According to IMDB, “Back in Action” is now in post-production.
SOURCE – CNN
NEW YORK — Hunter Biden filed a complaint accusing Fox News of illegally distributing sexual photographs of him as part of a streaming series.
The president’s son filed the complaint on Sunday in state court in Manhattan over photos from “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” which will premiere on Fox Nation in 2022. According to the lawsuit, the series included a “mock trial” of Hunter Biden on crimes he has not faced, as well as photos of Biden naked and engaging in sex acts.
Hunter Biden | AP News Image
Hunter Biden Sues Fox News Over Explicit Images Featured In A Streaming Series
The lawsuit argues that the distribution of intimate photographs without his consent violated New York’s so-called revenge porn legislation.
“Fox published and disseminated these Intimate Images to its vast audience of millions as part of an entertainment program in order to humiliate, harass, annoy and alarm Mr. Biden and to tarnish his reputation,” the lawsuit states.
In an emailed statement, a Fox News representative termed it an “entirely politically motivated lawsuit” that was “devoid of merit.” According to the statement, Biden’s attorneys filed a letter demanding its removal from streaming sites in April 2024.
“The program was removed within days of the letter, out of prudence, because Hunter Biden is a public figure who has been investigated several times and is now a convicted felon. According to the emailed statement, Fox News has faithfully covered Mr. Biden’s newsworthy events by the First Amendment, and we look forward to defending our rights in court.
Hunter Biden was convicted last month of three felony charges stemming from the purchase of a revolver in 2018. Prosecutors claimed the president’s son lied on a mandated gun-buy form by claiming he was not unlawfully using or addicted to narcotics.
Hunter Biden | AP News Image
Hunter Biden Sues Fox News Over Explicit Images Featured In A Streaming Series
According to the lawsuit, the series’ simulated trial included bribery claims and inappropriate financial relationships with foreign governments, which Hunter Biden has not faced.
The lawsuit says Fox did not completely remove promotional materials and that the program is still available on some third-party streaming sites.
SOURCE – (AP)
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