联邦法院裁决保护制药家族免于诉讼

A federal appeals court ruling shelters members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma from all civil lawsuits linked to their role in the opioid crisis.

联邦上诉法院的一项裁决使普渡制药的所有者萨克勒家族成员免于与他们在阿片类药物危机中所扮演角色有关的所有民事诉讼。

The ruling comes as part of the company's bankruptcy settlement deal. It's seen as a major legal victory for the Sacklers.

这项裁决是该公司破产和解协议的一部分。这被视为萨克勒家族的重大法律胜利。

And while the family will be protected, the court paved the way for the company to settle thousands of legal claims.

虽然萨克勒家族将受到保护，但法院为普渡制药解决数千起法律索赔创造了条件。

NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann is here. Brian, what do you make of this ruling? I mean, was it a surprise?

NPR戒毒记者布莱恩·曼恩将带来报道。布莱恩，你怎么看这个裁决? 我是说，这是意料之外吗?

You know, no one really knew how this case was going to land.

你知道，没人真正知道这个案子的结局。

A federal bankruptcy court first approved this controversial deal way back in 2020. Then it was overturned.

早在2020年，一家联邦破产法院就首次批准了这一充满争议的协议。但随后它被推翻了。

And now, after months of deliberations, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York restored it.

现在，经过几个月的审议，纽约第二巡回上诉法院恢复了这个协议。

And what this means is the Sacklers will walk away from their family's role in this deadly opioid crisis with immunity from civil lawsuits - that despite a paper trail that shows some of them aggressively pushed opioid sales.

这意味着萨克勒家族将摆脱其家族在这场致命的阿片类药物危机中所扮演的角色，免于民事诉讼——尽管有书面记录显示，他们中的一些人积极推动阿片类药物的销售。

In exchange, they will pay roughly $6 billion and give up control of their company, Purdue Pharma.

作为交换，他们将支付大约60亿美元，并放弃对其公司普渡制药的控制权。

So that's the deal with the Sacklers. Who else is going to benefit?

这就是萨克勒家族的协议。还有谁会从中受益?

Yeah. Under the terms of this deal, billions of dollars will be paid out by Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers to help fund addiction and health care programs around the U.S. over the next two decades.

是的。根据这项协议的条款，普渡制药和萨克勒家族将在未来20年内支付数十亿美元，用于资助美国各地的戒毒和医疗保健项目。

Also, victims of OxyContin addiction will share roughly $750 million in settlement money.

此外，奥施康定成瘾的受害者将分走大约7.5亿美元的和解金。

Ryan Hampton lost years to addiction after being prescribed OxyContin, and he helped negotiate this deal.

瑞安·汉普顿在被开了奥施康定后，因药品上瘾而丢失了多年的时光，他帮助谈判了这项协议。

He told me he's not happy the Sacklers get legal immunity, but he does think it's time to settle.

他告诉我他不高兴萨克勒家族获得法律豁免权，但他认为是时候和解了。

The system is far from perfect. We have known that for some time. But the true injustice is going to be if this continues to linger on and victims don't get their speedy recovery.

这个系统远非完美。我们知道这一点已经有一段时间了。但如果这个系统持续下去，受害者无法迅速康复，那才是真正的不公正。

Now, in theory, this ruling could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the legal experts I've been speaking to - they just don't think that's likely to happen.

现在，从理论上讲，这项裁决可以上诉到美国最高法院，但我与之交谈的法律专家认为这不太可能发生。

What are the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma saying about the ruling?

萨克勒家族和普渡制药公司对这一裁决有何看法?

Members of the Sackler family and the company sent NPR statements yesterday praising this decision.

萨克勒家族成员及其公司昨天在NPR发表声明，赞扬了这一裁决。

It's important to note that while their company, Purdue Pharma, pleaded guilty twice to federal criminal charges for illegal marketing of OxyContin, the Sacklers have never been personally charged with a crime.

值得注意的是，尽管他们的公司普渡制药曾两次因非法销售奥施康定而对联邦刑事指控认罪，但萨克勒家族从未因个人犯罪而受到指控。

They've never admitted any wrongdoing. And the way this deal is structured, they will now keep much of their wealth.

他们从未承认有任何不当行为。按照这项协议的结构，他们现将保留大部分财富。

The Sacklers won protection from a bankruptcy court without actually filing for bankruptcy. Does that set a precedent?

萨克勒家族没有实际申请破产就获得了破产法庭的保护。这开了一个先例吗?

This is interesting. Federal courts around the U.S. are wrestling with this question.

这很有趣。美国各地的联邦法院都在努力解决这个问题。

Should bankruptcy courts have the power to approve deals like this that allow wealthy people or companies to pay cash as part of settlements in exchange for protection from lawsuits?

破产法庭是否有权力批准这样的协议，允许富人或公司支付现金作为和解的一部分，以换取免受诉讼的保护?

A lot of the richest companies in the country are now trying legal maneuvers similar to what the Sacklers did here.

美国国内许多最富有的公司现在都在尝试萨克勒家族在该案中所采取的类似法律手段。

Bankruptcy experts I talked to say this ruling does open the door to this legal strategy a little wider.

我采访过的破产专家表示，这一裁决确实为这种法律策略打开了更大的大门。