Court docket tosses chapter petition by Johnson & Johnson’s talc unit
A federal appeals courtroom has upended Johnson & Johnson’s plan for resolving tens of 1000’s of lawsuits from customers who declare the corporate’s talc merchandise trigger most cancers.
The Third Circuit U.S. Court docket of Appeals on Monday dismissed the Chapter 11 petition for LTL Administration LLC, the spinoff J&J created, assigned its talc claims to and instantly positioned in chapter in October 2021.
J&J maintains that its talc-based merchandise are secure and don’t trigger most cancers, however has stated it moved the 38,000-plus claims in opposition to it into the LLC as a strategy to deal with the instances extra effectively than by means of particular person trials.
However the three-judge panel agreed unanimously with claimants who known as for the chapter to be dismissed over allegations that it was “not filed in good religion.”
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“We begin, and keep, with good religion. Good intentions—corresponding to to guard the J&J model or comprehensively resolve litigation—don’t suffice alone,” the courtroom wrote in its opinion. “What counts to entry the Chapter Code’s secure harbor is to satisfy its supposed functions. Solely a putative debtor in monetary misery can accomplish that. LTL was not.”
Johnson & Johnson didn’t instantly reply to FOX Business‘ request for touch upon the ruling.
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The patron-goods big introduced in 2020 that it might cease promoting its talc Child Powder within the U.S. and Canada, saying demand had fallen resulting from “deceptive” data concerning the product’s security. Final summer time, J&J stated it might stop promoting talc-based child powder globally beginning in 2023 and can as an alternative change to a wholly cornstarch-based line.
The patron lawsuits declare J&J’s talc merchandise induced most cancers resulting from contamination with asbestos, a identified carcinogen. J&J denies those allegations, and has stated many years of scientific testing and regulatory approvals have proven its talc to be secure and that the product “doesn’t comprise asbestos and doesn’t trigger most cancers.”
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FOX Enterprise’ Sarah Rumpf and Reuters contributed to this report.