The Supreme Court on Thursday upended a high-profile bankruptcy settlement with the company that made oxycontin, toppling an agreement that shielded the family responsible for the drug’s marketing from future damages in exchange for paying $6 billion to victims of the opioid epidemic.

The 5-4 decision had sweeping implications for states, which intend to use settlement money for drug treatment programs, and for the Sackler family, which made its fortune selling a drug that fueled the nation's opioid epidemic. The ruling may also make it more difficult to resolve other high-profile bankruptcies.

“No one has directed us to a statute or case suggesting American courts in the past enjoyed the power in bankruptcy to discharge claims brought by nondebtors against other nondebtors, all without the consent of those affected,” Gorsuch wrote for an opinion that included Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

More...