Court lets Purdue Pharma court records be made public

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The secret testimony from former Purdue Pharma President Richard Sackler and other records in a Kentucky opioids lawsuit must be made public after the state Supreme Court declined to review an earlier ruling.

The court record was sealed in 2015 as part of a $24 million settlement between Purdue and the state of Kentucky.

Health news website STAT sued to open the records. In ruling for the publication, the Court of Appeals reasoned there was a strong public interest in disclosing records that involved a settlement with a government agency.

On Monday, the 17 million pages of documents were being shipped from Frankfort to Pike County, where the case originated. Officials in the Pike County Circuit Court Clerk’s office could not immediately say how and when they would be available.