If you are looking into an opioid class action lawsuit as an individual, the hardest news comes first: the national multi-billion-dollar settlements with distributors, manufacturers, and pharmacies pay state and local governments, not people, and most of the bankruptcy trusts that did pay individuals have already closed to new claims. A personal claim is still possible in some circumstances, most often through the federal multi-district litigation in Ohio, but the window is narrower than the headlines suggest.
Why the Headline Settlements Don’t Pay Individuals
The settlements you’ve seen in the news resolved claims brought by states, cities, and counties, not by patients or families. Under the default allocation in the distributor and manufacturer agreements, 15 percent goes to a state fund, 70 percent flows into abatement accounts dedicated to opioid remediation, and 15 percent goes to local subdivisions. At least 70 percent of those government-directed funds must be spent on opioid remediation such as treatment programs, naloxone distribution, and recovery services.1National Opioids Settlement. Executive Summary of National Opioid Settlements
You cannot file a personal damages claim against those government settlements. The route for individuals runs through bankruptcy trusts set up for specific defendants, or through the ongoing federal multi-district litigation. Each trust has its own eligibility rules, documentation requirements, and deadlines.
Which Individual Claim Deadlines Have Already Passed
The Purdue Pharma Personal Injury Trust stopped accepting new claims on July 28, 2025. Claims submitted more than 15 days after that deadline do not qualify for any distribution. The trust is currently processing submitted claims, reconciling duplicates, and issuing deficiency notifications to claimants who filed incomplete paperwork.2Purdue Personal Injury Trust. Purdue Personal Injury Trust The bankruptcy court confirmed Purdue’s revised reorganization plan on November 18, 2025, and it became effective on May 1, 2026.3Kroll Restructuring Administration. Purdue Pharma L.P.
The Endo Opioid Personal Injury Trust stopped accepting standard opioid claims as of July 1, 2024. Claims for neonatal abstinence syndrome closed on April 23, 2025. Eligibility for either required filing a proof of claim in the bankruptcy case by the general bar date of July 7, 2023.4Endo Opioid Personal Injury Trust. Endo Opioid Personal Injury Trust and Endo NAS Personal Injury Trust
Mallinckrodt went through its own bankruptcy and reached a $1.7 billion settlement. The bankruptcy court approved creation of the Mallinckrodt Opioid Personal Injury Trust, which handles claims from individuals harmed by the company’s products.
One boundary worth flagging: federally recognized tribes have a separate settlement track through the court-appointed Tribal Leadership Committee, and those funds pay tribal governments for prevention, harm reduction, and treatment programs rather than individual tribal members.5Tribal Opioid Settlements. Tribal Opioid Settlements Documents
Where You Can Still File
The federal multi-district litigation known as MDL 2804, consolidated in the Northern District of Ohio, remains active with roughly 2,932 pending cases as of mid-2026. The MDL is still accepting new cases, particularly as the litigation expands to new categories of defendants such as pharmacy benefit managers. Most governmental plaintiffs have already joined settlement agreements, but individual and institutional claims continue to be filed. If your injury traces to a defendant not covered by a closed trust, consulting a plaintiffs’ attorney about filing in the MDL is the realistic next step.
What Qualifies as an Individual Opioid Claim
Across the trusts and the MDL, three categories of injury account for most individual claims:
- Opioid use disorder, supported by a medical diagnosis from a licensed provider and treatment records showing the duration and severity of the dependency.
- Wrongful death of a direct relative from a documented opioid overdose, with proof of cause of death and the legal relationship to the deceased.
- Neonatal abstinence syndrome in a child born with withdrawal symptoms from prenatal opioid exposure, with the infant’s diagnosis and the mother’s opioid-use history during pregnancy.
Each trust defines its own qualifying time period, so the dates during which an opioid was prescribed and used matter. A claim involving a medication taken in 2002 may fall under different rules than one from 2015.
Documentation You Will Need
Medical records confirming a diagnosis of opioid use disorder or chronic dependency form the backbone of any individual claim, and they need to cover the full duration of the addiction. Pharmacy records identifying the specific opioid and the prescribing physician are equally important, because each trust only covers the products of its own defendant. A claim against the Purdue trust, for example, requires evidence that the claimant used a Purdue-manufactured opioid like OxyContin.
Wrongful death claims require death certificates, and most trusts also want autopsy or toxicology results confirming opioids as the cause. A death certificate that lists cardiac arrest without mentioning opioid involvement is not enough on its own.
Court-appointed administrators such as BrownGreer and Kroll manage intake and review.3Kroll Restructuring Administration. Purdue Pharma L.P. Most provide an online portal with a physical mailing option, and each submission generates a confirmation number used for all follow-up. Administrators audit the records, verify them with healthcare providers and pharmacies, and send deficiency notices for incomplete filings. Cure periods are short, often 30 to 60 days.
Higher-tier payouts typically require evidence of broader impact: lost employment, accumulated medical expenses, and rehabilitation history. Listing every prescribing physician helps the administrator cross-reference the claim against manufacturer sales data. Actual payout amounts depend on how much money the trust holds and how many claims qualified, and payments often arrive in installments over several years as defendants pay in.
What Will Be Taken Out of an Award
Medicare and Insurance Liens
If Medicare paid for any medical treatment related to your opioid injury, those payments are conditional, meaning Medicare expects to be repaid from your settlement. Under the Medicare Secondary Payer statute, Medicare’s recovery window runs from the date of your first opioid exposure through the date of your settlement or award.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 1395y – Exclusions From Coverage and Medicare as Secondary Payer
You or your attorney must report a pending case to Medicare’s Benefits Coordination & Recovery Center. Within about 65 days, the BCRC sends a Conditional Payment Letter listing every Medicare payment it considers related to your case. You can dispute items you believe are unrelated. Once a settlement is reached, the BCRC calculates its final recovery, reduced by a proportional share of your attorney fees and litigation costs.7Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare’s Recovery Process Ignoring a Medicare lien can jeopardize your future benefits, and the federal government has authority to pursue recovery directly.
Private health insurers can also assert subrogation claims, but their rights depend on the language in your specific insurance contract and may be limited by state law. Have the contract reviewed before accepting any payment.
Taxes
Federal tax law excludes from gross income any damages received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness, as long as the damages are compensatory rather than punitive, whether paid as a lump sum or in installments.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness For most opioid claimants, the compensatory portion of a trust award is not taxable.
Several exceptions catch people off guard:
- Portions of a settlement that cover medical expenses you already deducted on past returns are taxable.
- Compensation categorized as lost wages is taxable, the same as regular income.
- Punitive damages are always taxable, with a narrow exception for wrongful death awards in states whose law only allows punitive damages in wrongful death cases.
- Interest accruing on a settlement between issuance and receipt is taxable, even if the underlying award was for physical injury.
- Emotional distress damages are excluded only if the distress originated from a physical injury or sickness. Standalone emotional distress claims are taxable, except to the extent they reimburse actual medical care costs.
If the taxable portion of your settlement will generate more than $1,000 in liability, the IRS expects estimated quarterly payments rather than a single annual payment.9Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments Settlement administrators may issue a Form 1099-MISC for payments of $600 or more, so keep records of how your award breaks down.
Attorney Fees
The federal court overseeing the MDL capped contingency fees at 15 percent of a participant’s award in the national government settlements with the distributors and Johnson & Johnson, calling anything above that “presumptively unreasonable.”10National Opioid Settlement. Order Regarding Contingent Attorney Fee Contracts That cap applies to attorneys representing states and political subdivisions in those specific agreements. It does not automatically apply to individual personal injury claims filed through bankruptcy trusts or in separate lawsuits, where contingency fees commonly range from 25 to 40 percent depending on complexity and timing. If an attorney asks you to sign a fee agreement, ask directly whether the 15 percent cap applies to your situation; in most individual claims, it does not.
If You Can’t File a Personal Claim
Settlement money reaching your state is earmarked for opioid remediation, and the agreements spell out approved spending: naloxone distribution, prevention programs, treatment for pregnant and postpartum women, care for infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, warm handoff and recovery services, treatment for incarcerated populations, medication-assisted treatment, syringe service programs, and data collection.
Whether those dollars reach you personally depends on where you live. Some jurisdictions are funding treatment centers, expanding access to medication for opioid use disorder, and training first responders. Others have been slower, or have faced criticism for directing funds toward general budget needs. The National Opioid Settlement website tracks state-by-state participation and fund distribution.11National Opioids Settlement. National Opioids Settlements If you are in recovery or need treatment, checking how your state is allocating its share can turn up newly funded programs available to you even without a personal claim.