Supreme Court upsets $10 billion opioid settlement because it shields the Sacklers

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a mass settlement related to the nation's opioid crisis that would have paid an estimated $10 billion to victims, hospitals, states and others, and shielded the Sackler family from further liability.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled that a bankruptcy judge does not have broad power to arrange a mass settlement of thousands of claims that includes protections for people who are not bankrupt.

The justices were split in an unusual way. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch spoke for the majority, while Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Brett M. Kavanaugh dissented.

"Our only proper task is to interpret and apply the law as we find it; and nothing in present law authorizes the Sackler discharge," Gorsuch said.

—Los Angeles Times

Red Roof Inn settles landmark sex trafficking case mid-trial

ATLANTA — Red Roof Inn has settled a landmark sex trafficking case mid-trial, resolving allegations by 11 women that they were exploited for years at hotels in Smyrna and Buckhead.

The national hotel chain isn’t disclosing the settlement terms and continues to deny claims that it participated in and benefited from pervasive sex trafficking at its locations on North Druid Hills Road in Buckhead and Corporate Plaza in Smyrna.

“Red Roof will continue to work with industry partners in the fight to eradicate sex trafficking and the exploitation of victims,” the company said in a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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