Johnson & Johnson Must Face Talcum Powder Cancer Class Action Lawsuit By Shareholders
The suit is being led by pension funds and centers around drops in the price of the stock immediately after revelations about what they knew and when
Monday, January 1, 2024 - U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi in Trenton, New Jersey has certified a class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson alleging the company hid information from shareholders about their knowledge that the talc the company used to produce Johnson's Baby Powder and other beauty care products contained asbestos, a deadly carcinogen. A Reuters report titled "Johnson & Johnson Knew For Decades That Asbestos Lurked In Its Baby Powder" was at the center of the class action's reasoning. The investigative report by Reuters told readers that based on documents revealed in court the company was aware that women were unlikely to use baby powder on their infants once they discovered that asbestos was carcinogenic. "Facing thousands of lawsuits alleging that its talc caused cancer, J&J insists on the safety and purity of its iconic product. But internal documents examined by Reuters show that the company's powder was sometimes tainted with carcinogenic asbestos and that J&J kept that information from regulators and the public," Reuters wrote. " J&J didn't tell the FDA that at least three tests by three different labs from 1972 to 1975 had found asbestos in its talc -- in one case at levels reported as "rather high."
The class action lawsuit consists of plaintiffs, mostly state and municipal pension funds, led by institutional investors like the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association. The most incriminating J & J internal documents were revealed during a Missouri talcum powder ovarian cancer trial that awarded 22 women with ovarian cancer $4.69 billion. "Shareholders said J&J's stock price fell six times in late 2017 and 2018 following events that confirmed how the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company and various executives hid the truth about asbestos in its talc products. These events included a jury awarding $4.69 billion in July 2018 to 22 women who said asbestos caused them to develop ovarian cancer, and a Reuters report five months later that said J&J knew about the asbestos risks for decades."
Johnson & Johnson continues its attempt to delay this class action lawsuit and tens of thousands of individual lawsuits by declaring bankruptcy for its LTL Management subsidiary where its talcum powder lawsuits are held. The first previously successful bankruptcy attempt was overturned, and a second was denied outright because the company, worth more than $400 billion was not in "financial distress." Only ovarian cancer plaintiffs are thought to be included in the $9 billion settlement offered through bankruptcy. The company has been successful in settling mesothelioma lawsuits, those whose lungs have been damaged by inhaling talc dust tainted with asbestos, and has said it will continue to make offers in 2024. The most recent bankruptcy is said to be filed in Texas, a state with notoriously loose bankruptcy regulations, and home to the Texas Two-step bankruptcy scheme.
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