Johnson & Johnson Wants To Settle Talcum Powder Cancer Lawsuits
More than 100 talcum powder cancer lawsuits set for 2024 have been settled or are settling soon
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 - ohnson & Johnson is continuing to push to settle talcum powder lawsuits that have been scheduled for 2023 and 2024 before they go to trial and also may enter bankruptcy for their talc subsidiary for a third time. According to Mesothelioma.net, " Johnson & Johnson has quietly settled about 100 mesothelioma and ovarian cancer talcum powder lawsuits brought by three different plaintiff law firms and is said to be attempting to resolve thousands of them through bankruptcy. The move is apparently meant to avoid damaging verdicts in the jury trials that are scheduled to be heard next year." Jury trials over the past five years have been split approximately 50-50 between the company and women with ovarian cancer or mesothelioma. Some juries have awarded plaintiffs hundreds of millions of dollars in punitive damages after they presented evidence that executives at Johnson & Johnson knew that their talc supply contained traces of asbestos yet did nothing to warn consumers. "The lawsuits, which had mostly been on hold for about two years while J&J petitioned the bankruptcy court, have now been able to resume. Trials in the talc cases have had a mixed record, with major plaintiff wins including a $2.1 billion judgment in 2021 awarded to 22 women with ovarian cancer. A New Jersey appeals court in October threw out a $223.7 million verdict against the company, finding the testimony of the plaintiffs' expert witnesses unsound, according to Reuters.com.
More than 50,000 talcum powder cancer trials were allowed to begin in 2023 after being delayed first by the pandemic, and then by Johnson & Johnson's bankruptcy. The company created a shell company called LTL Management and assigned their talcum powder cancer lawsuits to them along with about $9 billion in cash to settle them out of court. A federal judge in New Jersey approved the first bankruptcy but was overturned a year later as plaintiff attorneys, legal scholars, and US Congressional lawmakers took exception to the scheme. Most accused Johnson & Johnson of abusing bankruptcy laws that were intended to keep a company afloat while gradually paying off creditors. Lawmakers feared that should the Johnson & Johnson bankruptcy stand, thousands of other companies with legal liabilities would follow suit denying those who were injured by various consumer products their day in court. Johnson & Johnson has discontinued selling Johnson's Baby Powder worldwide due to what the company claims is a lack of sales caused by misinformation. The company continues to emphatically state that its talc is safe, pure, and asbestos-free, a claim that has recently caused Los Angeles County in California to file a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for false advertising. Johnson & Johnson also faces civil rights lawsuits by Black women with ovarian cancer that allege the company deliberately targeted them to purchase Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower bath products containing talc after the company discovered that the asbestos in their talc was carcinogenic.
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