Once dominating the baby powder market for over 130 years, Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder lawsuit slandered the New Jersey-based healthcare product maker’s image as a company that tended to care – a ‘sacred cow’ as once put. In 2017, talc powder attributed $420 million to J&J’s $76.5 billion revenue. 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration found traces of asbestos in J&J’s talc, which allegedly has caused mesothelioma – cancer that ambushes lungs and ovarian cancer by way of hygiene use, in women. 

The plaintiffs’ complaints contributed to the downward turn of J&J’s talcum powder sales prompting the company to announce that it would stop selling the product in the U.S. and Canada in May 2020 citing that ‘misinformation’ had debilitated the demand for the product. Recent developments state that Johnson & Johnson’s talc cancer settlement would also ensure a worldwide cease on talcum powder products in 2023. 

J&J’s Talc Cancer Settlements In The Past

$4.69 billion in damages. Most of the talc cancer lawsuits entailed that women who regularly used J&J’s products as a perineal antiperspirant and deodorant were victims of ovarian cancer.  

Johnson & Johnson Lawsuit Settlement 2023

The Johnson lawsuit settlement was originally earmarked at $2 billion as J&J’s potential liability in October 2021, but that value has quadrupled into the bandwidth of $8.9 billion to 40,300 claimants, under Johnson’s talc cancer settlement earlier this week.

Even with the scandalmongering, J&J is audacious to not admit to any wrongdoing in the proposed settlement, maintaining that they stand behind the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder and reaffirming that all the claims ‘lack scientific merit’ and are ‘specious’. 

But, judgment for J&J’s talc cancer lawsuit could last for decades and that’s why the pharmaceutical’s vice president of litigation, Erik Haas announced Johnson’s decision to conclude its legal battle. 

“Resolving this matter through the proposed reorganization plan is more equitable and efficient. It allows claimants to be compensated in a timely manner, and also enables the company to remain focused on our commitment to profoundly impact positive health for humanity.”

In January 2023, the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a bankruptcy petition from J&J’s subsidiary LTL Management, upending the healthcare company’s shot to resolve billions of dollars of legal claims of causing cancer out of trial courts into the bankruptcy system.

But under the proposed J&J talc settlement, subsidiary LTL Management which is shouldering the talc lawsuits, will re-file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and strive for the court’s approval for its machinations which would result in the U.S.’ largest product-liability settlements. The $8.9 billion will be payable over the next 25 years.

Public Acquiescence To J&J’s Talc Settlement

The pharmaceutical stock closed nearly 4.5 percent higher on Wednesday after the announcement of Johnson’s lawsuit settlement, with its market value standing at an incredible $430 billion. 

Albeit the controversial reputation, many Wall Street analysts painted J&J’s move as pragmatically hopeful, despite the uncertain outcome of the proposal. Lawyers representing the bereft plaintiffs in the talc cancer lawsuits lauded J&J’s proposal as a ‘significant victory’ in the legal battle that has spun out for more than a decade now. 

In a securities filing on Tuesday, J&J announced that the revised amount proposed by them is being backed by more than 60,000 claimants who alleged harm from the talcum powder but have committed to support the resolution, which requires the bankruptcy court’s approval. Yet, there is no surety that the proposed settlement would win in court with J&J’s previous woes over LTL Management’s bankruptcy protection filing. 

Analysts from JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have also shared positive takes on the company’s move. But it is unclear as to how 60,000 cases tie back to the 40,300 plaintiffs marked in J&J’s recent filing, with roughly 37,500 talc lawsuits’ actions pending. 

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