The City of Blackshear will be joining other communities as part of a class action lawsuit against Purdue Pharma.
City council resolution 2025-17 states identifies Blackshear as “a local government entity that has certain claims arising from the harms visited upon Georgia’s citizens and the State by certain manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies of prescription opioids”.
A June 17 Government entity Settlement Agreement filed in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case in New York requires claimants to opt in to see any benefits from the Purdue opioid settlement. The city council unanimous passed a motion to join with other plaintiffs in the hope of seeing some compensation for the harm caused by the opioid epidemic.
Prior to the vote on the resolution, Mayor Keith Brooks referenced past settlements in which Blackshear had successfully taken part. Police Chief Chris Wright said both the City of Blackshear and Pierce County have opted into such settlements in the past. Wright estimated the proceeds to Blackshear from past settlements to be “around $25,000” and thinks the payout from this class action suit might be similar.
The judgment against Purdue Pharma, and the Sackler family who owned and ran the company, totals $7.4 billion dollars. While $25,000 might not seem like much compared against the billion dollar judgement, 55 states and U.S. territories are part of the suit. Georgia’s expected share of the payout is estimated at $126 million dollars.
