Frequently Asked Questions

The Settlement Class consists of elementary, middle, and/or secondary public school districts in the United States (a) with enrollments of more than 5,000 students, or (b) that have themselves filed an opioid-related lawsuit, or (c) filed a claim as a creditor in Purdue Pharma L.P.’s bankruptcy.

Under the Settlement, Class Members are eligible to apply to the Public School Trust for funds to help abate or mitigate the opioid crisis in their school district. Grant amounts have yet to be determined and will depend on the number of grant proposals received and then selected by the Special Trustee for awards. Under the Settlement, no school district is guaranteed any Settlement funds. The Trust will not distribute Settlement funds on a pro rata or proportional basis.

Details about how to apply for an award from the Trust and about the structure and purposes of the Trust are available at www.SacklerSchoolDistrictOpioidSettlement.com. The Trust will be administered by Dr. Andrés Alonso, former deputy chancellor of the New York City Public School System and Chief Executive Officer of the Baltimore City Public School System.

Dr. Alonso will solicit and review funding proposals from school districts nationwide. From among the proposals received, he will make grants to a limited number of school districts with the intent of directing the Settlement money where it will likely have the greatest impact. Consistent with that purpose, Dr. Alonso will give priority, for example, to:

1. 1. 1.  Applications for funding from public school districts (or consortia of districts) in areas most affected by the opioid crisis.
      2.  Applications from underfunded school districts or school districts with low per-pupil spending.
      3.  Applications that target services to children under the age of 8, where the potential gains are likely to be the highest.
      4.  Applications showing that funds received will be used to leverage matching funds from other sources, increasing their impact.
      5.  Applications showing how programs funded by the grant will become self-sustaining once the grant money has been spent.
      6.  Applications for projects that are innovative or designed to be replicated elsewhere.

Under the terms of the Trust, trust funds must be used for direct services or innovative projects that benefit students. Settlement funds will not be available to support research. Uses that align with the abatement and mitigation goals and the criteria identified above might include:

• • Grants for direct services, including to hire special education teachers, behavior specialists, counselors, social workers, reading coaches, or occupational, mental health, or physical therapists;
  • Grants for multi-disciplinary programs, such as partnerships between public school districts and medical or social services providers; or
  • Grants for projects, with nationwide applicability, for training and developing staff to provide special education or multi-disciplinary services to abate and mitigate the effects of the opioid epidemic in schools.

The Trust will also be funded by amounts collected from other opioid defendants in other cases, from which school districts have received or expect to receive additional recoveries, including litigation against McKinsey & Co. and the Mallinckrodt, Endo, and Purdue bankruptcies, for $23 million, $5 million, $3 million, and 13.8 million, respectively. The McKinsey, Mallinckrodt and Endo recoveries are secured. This number could grow with other recoveries from other opioid defendants.

Currently, it is expected that the Trust will begin awarding grants in 2027 with money provided by the Former Sackler Director Defendants as part of this Settlement. Grants awarded with money provided by Purdue Pharma will begin at the same time. Grants awarded with money collected from settlements with McKinsey, Mallinclrodt, and Endo have already been made and are continuing to be made.

You are receiving this Notice because your school district is likely a member of the Class. The Court in charge of this case authorized this Notice because Class Members have a right to know about the proposed Settlement of this lawsuit and to understand all their options before the Court decides whether to approve the Settlement. This Notice summarizes the Settlement and explains Class Members’ legal rights and options under the Settlement.

Judge John P. Bailey of the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia is in charge of this case. The case is known as Marshall County Board of Education et al v. Sackler et al, Case No. 5:25-cv-00228-JPB. The public school districts who sued are called the “Plaintiffs.” The “Defendants” are members of the Sackler family who previously served on the board of Purdue Pharma L.P.

A class action is a representative lawsuit. One or more plaintiffs (who are also called “class representatives”) sue on behalf of themselves and all others with similar claims who are not named but are described in the class definition and are called “class members” (in this case, other school districts). When a class action is settled, the court resolves the issues in the lawsuit for all class members, except those who request to be excluded from (or “opt out” of) the class. Opting out means that your school district will not receive benefits under the Settlement. The opt out process is described in Question 10 of this Notice.

In exchange for participating in the Settlement, which makes your school district eligible to apply for a grant from the Trust, your district will give up its right to sue the Released Parties (the Defendants and certain of their associates) for the claims released in the Settlement. (See Question 9 below). The Settlement does not affect claims against other opioid defendants.

Section IX of the Settlement Agreement contains the complete text and details of what Class Members give up unless they exclude themselves from the Settlement, so please read it carefully. The full text of the Settlement Agreement is available at www.SacklerSchoolDistrictOpioidSettlement.com. If you have any questions, you may talk to the law firms listed in Question 17 for free, or your own lawyer at your own expense.

There are many claims for relief in this class action, including some claims that seek treble or punitive damages. The claims, including for violation of RICO and for common law public nuisance, negligence, failure to warn, violation of statutory duties, civil conspiracy, and aiding and abetting start at paragraph 40 of the Complaint, which was filed on October 6, 2025, in the Northern District of West Virginia, and is entry #1 of the electronic docket on PACER. The Complaint can also be found on the Settlement Website at www.SacklerSchoolDistrictOpioidSettlement.com under the “Documents” section. If you have any questions about the claims and remedies in the class action, you may talk to the law firms listed in Question 17 for free, or you may talk to your own lawyer at your own expense.

If your school district does not want to be eligible to apply for a grant from the Trust, and your district wants to retain the right to sue the Released Parties for claims arising out of or related to this case, then you must remove your district from the Settlement. You may do this by asking to be excluded from—sometimes called “opting out” of—the Settlement. To do so, you must mail or email a letter or other written documents to the Court-appointed Notice and Claims Administrator. Your request must include:

• Your district’s name, address, and telephone number.
• A statement that “I wish to exclude [insert the name of you school district] from the Class in the School District Opioid Litigation against the Former Director Sacklers, Marshall County
  Board of Educaiton et al v. Sackler et al, Case No. 5:25-cv-00228-JPB; and
• The printed name and signature of the school district superintendent or other person authorized to sign on behalf of the school district, showing the date signed, and accompanied by a further signed statement that “I, the person signing this statement, warrant that I have legal authority to bind [insert name of school district].” (Electronic signatures, including Docusign, are invalid and will not be considered personal signatures).

Your exclusion request must be postmarked or emailed no later than February 16, 2026. If emailing, email your exclusion request to info@SchoolDistrictOpioidRecoveryGrants.com. If using a postal service, mail your exclusion to School District Purdue Opioid Notice and Claims Administrator, PO Box 3637, Baton Rouge, LA 70821.

No. Unless your school district excludes itself, your district gives up the right to sue the Defendants for all the claims that the Settlement resolves.

No. If your school district excludes itself, your district will not be eligible to apply to the Trust for a grant from money provided by the Sackler Former Director Defendants .Your district may still apply to the Trust for an award payable from funds provided to the Trust by settlements with other opioid defendants (such as McKinsey, Purdue, Endo, and Mallinckrodt).

The law of most states provides for various remedies if a claim is proved at trial and upheld on appeal. None of these can be predicted with certainty, and all take more time. The Settlement is designed to provide benefits that are not subject to the delay and risk of a trial and appeals.

Yes. The Court has appointed Class Counsel to prosecute all school district claims pending before Judge John Bailey in Marshall County Board of Education et al v. Sackler et al, Case No. 5:25-cv-00228-JPB These counsels are: Mehri & Skalet, PLLC and Bailey Glasser, LLP. They can be contacted in that capacity at no charge to you at: 202-822-5100.

No. Class Counsel will represent you for purposes of this Settlement at no charge to you. Any attorneys’ fees and costs awarded to Class Counsel by the Court will be paid from the Trust. Please note, however, if your district has been or is represented by its own lawyer, any money you may owe to that lawyer will not be covered by this Settlement. If your district wants to be represented by its own lawyer, you may hire one at your own expense. Your district might receive less money overall if you choose to hire your own lawyer to litigate against the Defendants rather than participate in this Settlement.

Any attorneys’ fees and costs awarded to Class Counsel by the Court will be paid from the Public School Trust

Defendants will pay reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to Class Counsel as determined by the Court. Class Counsel will ask the Court to award (25% or approximately $6.7 million as attorneys’ fees for School District Counsel and to reimburse them for their costs estimated to be no more than $100,000). They will file that request with the court on January 6, 2026. That document will be available on the Settlement Website shortly after it is filed and will describe the methodology and rationale behind Class Counsel’s request. Class Members can comment on or object to this request, as explained further in Question 17. The Court must approve any attorneys’ fees and costs before they are paid.

Defendants will not pay attorneys’ fees and costs to any attorneys other than Class Counsel and attorneys working under Class Counsel’s direction. If your district has hired or chooses to hire attorneys that have not been appointed as Class Counsel, you may incur additional charges, according to your agreement with your personally-retained attorneys. No attorneys other than Class Counsel or other attorneys authorized by Class Counsel to perform work in connection with this Action will receive fees or expenses from Defendants under this Class Action Agreement or any fee-shifting statute.

If you do not exclude your school district from the Settlement, you may object to it. The Court will consider your views. By filing an Objection, you can ask the Court not to approve the Settlement. You can’t ask the Court to order a different settlement; the Court can only approve or reject the Settlement. If the Court does not approve the Settlement, no Settlement payments will be sent out, and the lawsuit will continue. If that is what you want to happen, you should object. To comment on or object to the Settlement or Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs, you or your attorney must submit a written Objection to the Court, which must include the following information:

• Your name, address and telephone number;
• A statement saying that your school district is “objecting to the School District Opioid Litigation Class Action Settlement with the Sacklers in Marshall County Board of Education et al v. Sackler et al, Case No. 5:25-cv-00228-JPB,” or substantially similar clear and unambiguous language.
• The specific reasons why your district is objecting to the Settlement, along with any supporting materials, including any legal and evidentiary support you wish to bring to the Court’s attention;
• A statement that specifying whether your district’s objection applies only to your district, to a subsection of the Class, or to the entire Class;
• A statement that you have reviewed the Class definition and have not opted your school district out of the Class;
• A list of all class actions in which your district and its counsel have previously objected;
• Whether your district intends to appear at the Fairness Hearing through counsel and, if so, the identity of all attorneys who will appear for the district at the Fairness Hearing;
• A statement that your district submits to the jurisdiction of the Court with respect to (a) the Objection or request to be heard and (b) the subject matter of the Settlement, including but not limited to enforcement of the terms of the Settlement; and
• Your signature and the date

If you object through your own lawyer (hired at your own expense), your lawyer must comply with additional requirements contained in Section V.(F) of the Class Action Settlement.

In addition, if you intend to appear at the final approval hearing (the “Fairness Hearing”), you must submit a written notice of your intent (see Questions 20 and 21 below).

You must mail your Objection to all the addresses below, postmarked by January 15, 2026:

You can object only if you do not opt out of the Class. Opting out is telling the Court that you do not want your school district to be part of the Settlement, and your district does not want to receive any payment from the Settlement. If you opt out, you have no basis to object to the Settlement by telling the Court you do not like something about it because the case no longer affects you.

If you object to the Settlement, you are expressing your views about the Settlement but remain a member of the Class (if you are otherwise eligible). If you make an objection, you must still submit a Claim in order to receive compensation under the Class Action Settlement.

The Court will hold a Fairness Hearing on May 7, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., at the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, located at the United States Courthouse, 1125 Chapline Street, Wheeling, West Virginia, 260003, before determining whether to approve the Settlement and Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs. The hearing may be moved to a different date or time without additional notice, so it is good to check www.SacklerSchoolDistrictOpioidSettlement.com or call 1-866-961-5451. At this hearing, the Court will hear evidence about whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. If there are Objections, the Court will consider them and may listen to people who have asked to speak at the hearing. After the hearing, the Court will decide whether to approve the Settlement and Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs. We do not know how long that decision will take.

No. Class Counsel will answer questions the Court may have. You are welcome to attend at your own expense. If you timely file an Objection, you do not have to come to Court to talk about it. As long as you submitted your written Objection on time, the Court will consider it. You also may have your own lawyer attend at your expense, but it is not necessary.

You may ask the Court for permission to speak at the Fairness Hearing. The Court will determine whether to permit you to speak. To do so, you must file with the Court a written notice of your intent to appear. Be sure to include your name, address, telephone number, and your signature. Your notice of intention to appear must be filed or postmarked no later than April 27, 2026 and must also be sent to all the addresses listed in Question 17.

This Notice summarizes the proposed Settlement. More details are in the Settlement Agreement. You can get a copy this Notice, the Settlement Agreement, and other documents at www.SacklerSchoolDistrictOpioidSettlement.com. You also may write with questions to School District Purdue Opioid Notice and Claims Administrator, PO Box 3637, Baton Rouge, LA 70821 or call 1-866-961-5451.