Letter from Stephanie Lubinski, who lost her husband
January 6, 2021 to Judge Robert D. Drain
… I am just a small fish in this huge ocean of devastation the Sackler family has caused with their greed. They increased their opulent wealth, beyond anything that a blue collar worker like myself would ever imagine. Yet, my family paid the ultimate price for them to get that wealth.
My husband Troy A. Lubinski was a healthy, strong, athletic, Minneapolis Firefighter. We met when we were teenagers, then married for 32 years. He started being prescribed pain medication for a back injury he incurred. He could maintain and control it for many years. But then, he was prescribed OxyContin. That was the beginning of the end of Troy. …
I don’t expect the world in our claim, and nothing will replace our beloved Troy. But my children deserve some compensation, while the Sacklers have not suffered at all.
This past year we thought he was getting better and he was realizing the losses he had created. … But it was not to be, he committed suicide on September 22, 2020. Leaving our family devastated. He no longer wanted to live with his addiction, and pain of what he had destroyed any longer. …
[I] only want for my children to have some satisfaction in knowing the Sackler family will suffer a morsel of what we have, and I believe the Sackler family should know what their greed has caused. They should know the name, Troy Lubinski, and the many, many others that have lost their lives to OxyContin. The families that lived the life of loving an addict, and are now left to grief and feel this horrible void because of their selfishness. …
Troy Lubinski … meant the world to us, and he needs to be remembered and apologized to by the Sackler family. …
Letter from Peter W. Jackson, who lost his daughter
July 15, 2020 to Judge Robert D. Drain
… Unfortunately, I am a creditor of Purdue Pharma because my daughter, Emily Jackson, died of an overdose on August 18, 2006, after ingesting one OxyContin pill. She was 18 years old. …
Since 2007, I have learned that much information was withheld from the public view, both related to Purdue and to the role of the Sacklers who, I now understand, apparently made many of the decisions that led to this crisis. Your honor, this made me feel as though we were being used as part of a scheme to make it look like the government was taking bold action, while in reality many pertinent facts as to Purdue’s conduct and the involvement of the Sacklers were hidden from view. When I learned that this bankruptcy proceeding could result in immunity from civil lawsuits for the Sackler family, I hoped and expected that the Court would understand the importance of making the truth known. For my family, the truth is the only thing that matters. No amount of money could ever fill the hole in my life created by the loss of my sweet daughter.
The best outcome to this bankruptcy proceeding for the many families that have been shattered by this company’s aggressive and illegal marketing strategies is a fair, comprehensive and public review of all available evidence as to what exactly this company and the Sackler family have done. It is particularly important to shine a bright light on all available evidence so that the American public can understand, once and for all, exactly how this company and their owners conducted themselves and how their actions sparked the epidemic that continues to harm Americans. …
Letter from Kimberly Krawczyk, who lost her brother
November 7, 2019 to Judge Robert D. Drain
… I am writing to you as a citizen who, like many others, have seen first-hand the devastation wrought by Purdue Pharma. The Sackler family has destroyed average families for decades through their pursuit of wealth with no regard for the consequences faced by the average population. …
The Sackler family needs to be held accountable for the destruction they have caused and the lives they have ruined.
My brother Michael’s story is not unique, to this never-ending tragedy the Sackler family put in motion by their greed but still very painful. At the age of 36 Michael sought out medical attention from an injury he had gotten at work. …
It didn’t take long for his doctor to continue to raise his prescriptions from 20s to 40s and lastly 80s of Oxycontin and for Michael to end up hospitalized twice with kidney failure. Along with losing everything that is meaningful to one’s personal existen[ce].
It didn’t take long for him to get taken off his prescriptions and for him to seek an illegal alternative. Michael could no longer afford the cost Oxycontin sold on the streets and turned to heroin. It was only a short amount a time, that I received that phone call that no one never ever wants.
My Brother Died on 8/31/2012 from a fatal overdose and that day has forever changed my life. I experience grief every day of my life. …
I am asking you to help us hold Purdue accountable for their actions. … No company should get away with profiting off lives lost. Help us put people over profit and give meaning to those whose lives cannot be reclaimed. …
Letter from Mary Butler-Fink, who lost her son
July 15, 2021 to Judge Robert D. Drain
… I am writing to you today as a Mom who lost her son due to the Sackler Family’s multigenerational deception & greed. Please don’t allow them to avoid being personally/criminally responsible for the devastation they have caused – not only to my family, but to countless New York & American Families. They ignited the opioid crisis with their desire to market OxyContin. …
My son experimented with OxyContin & before long he began his 15 year struggle with opioid addiction. He overdosed on June 11, 2020. His autopsy revealed heroin laced with fentanyl. As you know OxyContin was the genie the Sacklers let out of the bottle. …
As a judge, you are aware that if there’s a bank robbery, it’s not just the person, with the gun, who goes in to the bank to get the money, who a court would hold accountable, it’s the person who’s driving the getaway car that is also complicit. The Sacklers are complicit & we all know that. Are they deserving of special treatment, in this case, because of their billionaire status? Is it permissible in the state of New York or in America to cause the loss of life or suffering of a single citizen, let alone the colossal loss of life and magnitude of suffering that Purdue Pharma & the Sackler Family has caused? I do not think so. …
Letter from Joyce Villnave, who lost her husband and cousin
July 17, 2021 to Judge Robert D. Drain
… Unfortunately, I am not an attorney and am not familiar with the proper form for objections. I hope you will indulge me by allowing me to register my objections by letter.
So many of those injured by Debtor’s product, like my husband and my cousin, have lost their lives because they were prescribed a medication Debtors claimed was not addictive. …
As a result of said claims, several Debtors have pleaded guilty in a criminal proceeding. Yet, not one person will serve even a day in prison. There were billions of dollars in fines and forfeitures, but the criminals get to live their comfy lives as pillars of the community.
With the “global” settlement of the criminal case and the settlement of these bankruptcy cases, how will those whose final outcome is not known be comforted? How will those claimants, whose claim is considered unsecured because their claim is not monetary, know they matter in these proceedings? …
Should a company be allowed to survive after such an abhorrent disregard for human life? Should those who made the decision to ignore the collateral damages of their lies be allowed to live as though they merely bent a few rules[?] …
If Purdue Pharma is allowed to exist beyond these cases, and the executives are free, then there are not enough punitive damages.
What is the deterrent to future misconduct by corporations and executives? …
Letter from Scotti Madison, who lost his son
March 25, 2021 to Judge Robert D. Drain
… I can’t [begin] to properly explain the incredible bone deep sorrow I still feel today, some eight years later, over the loss of my son Trent to opioids. Trent was everything to me; my best friend, my hunting buddy; my pride and joy; my only begotten son. …
Every other personal claimant feels exactly like I do. Nothing can fill the void, and no amount of money can replace the love that we lost forever nor satisfy the hole in our hearts that never heals. …
We are deeply hurting parents upside down mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially since … our child took a Purdue Opioid. …