Purdue Settlement on Town Council Radar at Work Session

As artificial intelligence advances rapidly, the ease of reporting increases in direct proportion. A simple query with an instant response based on a lightning-fast calculation of numerous websites can generate nuanced answers to questions as grand as “how old is the Bible” and as mundane as “is Joseph Waltz of Front Royal a happy man”. One wonders if this machine could replace us, but it is, after all, a tool, and it requires an end user as well as human input to keep it running.

The Town Council sits down for a work session on the evening of Monday, August 11. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

The Royal Examiner benefited from this mechanism after the Town Council work session of Monday, August 11, in which Town Attorney George Sonnett presented to the council the possibility of authorizing the Town Manager to execute a form indicating the Town’s willingness to participate under the Purdue Settlement, an opioid related case that has national consequences. Sonnett indicated that he was unsure of how a previous settlement had failed, and he did not specify what the Sackler family would gain from offering billions of their sizable fortune to be distributed to participating subdivisions and used to offset the opioid crisis.

Ellen Aders of Downtown Front Royal, Inc., informs the council of where the Main Street area stands in relation to a strategy to improve and achieve advanced status with Main Street America.

According to Google’s AI generator, the Supreme Court struck down a settlement that would give the Sackler family, who were responsible for the misleading marketing of the addictive OxyContin painkiller via the family-owned company Purdue Pharma, sweeping immunity from future litigation. It was the court’s opinion that this could not be done without the consent of the affected parties. Now, a new settlement, the one in which Front Royal may participate, would require the Sacklers, in tandem with Purdue Pharma, to pay $7.4 billion over the course of fifteen years. Any participating subdivision agrees to become a “releasor”, dropping any claim to directly sue the family and agreeing to forfeit any such claim in the future. That is what the Sackler family would gain.

Purchasing Manager Michelle Campbell presents to the council a potential acquisition, along with an expense for services to be rendered.

The notification in the agenda packet for Monday night’s Town Council meeting is a tangle of legalese with links leading to yet other links in which anyone could easily get lost. Thank God for technology. The bottom line is that there is a limit to how much someone should be punished, and to avoid a Treaty of Versailles scenario in which the offending party is punished beyond their capacity to cooperate, the Sacklers, should they be ready to pay significantly to offset the cost of their crime, should not be punished indefinitely. Thus, the arrangement, admittedly to someone who is not a victim, seems reasonable.

Finance Director B.J. Wilson presents to the council the capabilities of a cutting-edge software produced by Univerus, Inc. that could revolutionize how the Town handles business.

As the Sacklers have agreed to relinquish their control of Purdue Pharma and to forego any future sale of opioids, one is left with questions about the limits of forgiveness and the necessity of atonement. Participation for Front Royal means a seat at the table to influence how Warren County uses the money, in the exigency that the money is received. Based on the participation rate, the relevant stakeholders will determine whether there is enough buy-in to make the settlement worthwhile going forward. A ruined life is not something to take lightly. Having had that effect on so many, it is appropriate to describe the family in the terms that John Milton used to describe the exit in Paradise Lost: “The world was all before them.”

Click here to watch the Front Royal Town Council Meeting of August 11, 2025.

Virginia Helps Lead $7.4 Billion National Settlement With Sacklers, Purdue Pharma Over Opioid Crisis