The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the case of Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., which involves a bankruptcy settlement for persons who overdosed on OxyContin. The Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of current bankruptcy law, which permits bankruptcy courts to extinguish claims against nondebtor third parties.
The case, the USCCB argues, is relevant to diocesan bankruptcy proceedings: if bankruptcy courts were forbidden to extinguish claims against third parties, then third parties such as parishes and schools would each have to enter into separate bankruptcy proceedings.