On September 1, 2021, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York confirmed the bankruptcy settlement in In Re: Purdue Pharma L.P. The plan and settlement are currently subject to appeal in the Second Circuit. Gilbert played a central role in negotiating the terms of that settlement, involving all opioid creditors, the Purdue debtors, and the Sackler family.
Gilbert has been involved in the Purdue opioid bankruptcy matter since 2019, when the firm was appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York as mass tort, deal, and insurance counsel to the Ad Hoc Committee of Governmental and Other Contingent Litigation Claimants in In re: Purdue Pharma L.P.
In those proceedings, following significant analysis of the insurance available to Purdue Pharma L.P., Gilbert LLP and other firms also have filed the largest insurance coverage action filed to date concerning opioids (currently pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York).
In 2020, Gilbert was similarly retained by the Ad Hoc Group of Governmental Entities Holding Opioid Claims in In re: Mallinckrodt PLC, the bankruptcy proceedings arising out of Mallinckrodt’s role in contributing to the opioid crisis. Gilbert’s work in both bankruptcies builds on its decades of experience working on major corporate bankruptcies predicated by mass tort liabilities. Gilbert is lead counsel in a coverage action filed on June 16, 2022 in Missouri state court on behalf of the Trust established to address opioid claims against Mallinckrodt.
The Purdue and Mallinckrodt bankruptcies are two of several opioid matters in which Gilbert is involved, including the MDL proceedings in Ohio and litigations by state attorneys general and sovereign Indian tribes against opioid manufacturers, distributors, chain retailers, and others seeking remediation and damages for the U.S. opioid crisis.