Johnson & Johnson legal rep floats subsidiary bankruptcy filing over talc lawsuits

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The Wall Street Journal

July 19, 2021: A Johnson & Johnson legal representative said in settlement discussions over its talcum-based baby powder that the company is considering placing a subsidiary in bankruptcy as part of a strategy to settle thousands of claims linking the product to ovarian cancer, according to people familiar with the matter.

The possibility of a chapter 11 bankruptcy was raised by the J&J representative during discussions over its talc-containing baby powder, according to personal-injury lawyers, who said they received the information while negotiating in recent weeks to resolve their clients’ claims. Reuters on Sunday reported J&J’s exploration of a potential subsidiary bankruptcy filing.

As of April, there were roughly 28,900 pending lawsuits in U.S. courts against the company and its Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. subsidiary, blaming ovarian cancer and other injuries on talc-containing powders, which it stopped selling in the U.S. and Canada last year. J&J said in its most recent quarterly report in April that the number of talc cases continues to grow.

A company spokesperson said Sunday that “Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. has not decided on any particular course of action in this litigation other than to continue to defend the safety of talc and litigate these cases in the tort system, as the pending trials demonstrate.”

Disclaimer: This article was originally published by The Wall Street Journal

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