• by Steve Ellwanger , April 5, 2023

Following a failed bankruptcy maneuver, Johnson & Johnson is now proposing to pay $8.9 billion over a period of 25 years to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that baby powder and other J&J products containing talcum powder caused cancer.

But attorneys representing patients who have ovarian cancer and mesothelioma are calling the settlement of $8.9 billion “woefully inadequate” because it would “seriously shortchange women who have incurred significant medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages.”

Many of the plaintiffs have claimed that the talc products in question were tainted with asbestos — an allegation that J&J has denied.

As previously reported, in 2021 J&J unit LTL Management — in which J&J's talcum powder liabilities had been placed  —filed bankruptcy shortly after its formation.

At the time, the bankruptcy filing described LTL as a “small business debtor.”

That ploy failed when an appeals court in January rejected the filing after deciding it was not filed in good faith.

On Tuesday, J&J said that LTL had refiled for bankruptcy to “equitably resolve all current and future talc claims.” In the first bankruptcy filing, LTL had committed to $2 billion in settlements.

However, last September a J&J lawyer said in court that the initial bankruptcy would benefit victims by producing a faster settlement — possibly worth as much as $61 billion.

The latest proposed settlement would require approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey and 75% of an estimated 50,000 claimants.

“This sham deal does not even pay for most victims' medical bills,” Jason Itkin of Houston-based personal injury law firm Arnold & Itkin LLP, said in a statement issued yesterday in which he and other lawyers urged plaintiffs to reject the $8.9 billion offer.

“Medical costs alone can range from $140,000 to more than $1.4 million per victim for ovarian cancer cases. The costs for mesothelioma are even higher.”

In a news release, J&J said neither of LTL’s bankruptcy filings are “an admission of wrongdoing, nor an indication that the company has changed its longstanding position that its talcum powder products are safe.”