WHITFIELD: Welcome back. New reports this morning that Purdue Pharma, the company blamed for much of the nation's opioid crisis, is negotiating a deal to settle thousands of lawsuits. Under the proposal, the family that owns the company could contribute billions of dollars of their own money toward the settlement. CNN's Erica Hill is here with details on this. What are you hearing?</s>ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR & NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we're hearing is CNN has confirmed that the company says it's in talks to settle thousands of lawsuits that accuse Purdue Pharma of creating the country's opioid epidemic. Keep in mind here, there are hundreds of lawsuits. Some of them have been rolled into this one case in Ohio where the federal judge there has encouraged the parties, wants them to talk to each other to work out a settlement. We are expecting a regularly scheduled update on those talks in that case likely by the end of the week. In terms of what this particular settlement could mean, NBC News is reporting this could be in the range of $10 to $12 billion for the Sackler family. It could mean they give up their control of the company, declare bankruptcy on that. They would contribute anywhere from $1 to $3 billion as part of that settlement, according to the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post." We also reached out, just to get comment from the company. They wouldn't confirm a specific monetary amount but did say that the company plans to, in its words, "defend itself vigorously," noting they see little good of coming from years of wasteful litigation and appeals. We should point out this would not be the first settlement that we've seen. A lot of talk on settlements on the heels of Johnson & Johnson in Oklahoma earlier this week. Purdue Pharma actually settled with the state of Oklahoma in a case there in March for $270 million. So all eyes watching to see what's next.</s>WHITFIELD: Erica Hill, appreciate it. Thank you. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Dana Bash starts right now. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you tomorrow.
Report: Sackler Family Could Give Up Ownership of Purdue Pharma.