A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary proposed on Friday that it would submit to an independent examination of the corporate restructuring the healthcare giant undertook in an attempt to settle in U.S. bankruptcy court thousands of lawsuits alleging that J&J baby powder and other talc products cause cancer, Reuters reported. Greg Gordon, a lawyer for J&J subsidiary LTL Management LLC, raised during a hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan the idea of a court-appointed examiner that could "come in and do whatever investigation it wants" to determine whether the restructuring short-changed cancer victims. Cancer plaintiffs have asked Kaplan to dismiss LTL's bankruptcy case and allow them to resume the lawsuits against J&J. Kaplan, who presided over a week-long hearing on the matter in Trenton, New Jersey, has said that he will decide by the end of the month whether to dismiss the case. J&J is attempting to use LTL's bankruptcy case to resolve about 38,000 lawsuits alleging the company's talc products caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, an illness linked to asbestos exposure. J&J maintains that its talc products are safe and asbestos-free, but attorneys for LTL argued that bankruptcy is the only practical way to resolve the sheer volume of lawsuits. During closing arguments in the hearing, Gordon floated the option of an independent examiner to clear the air after lawyers for cancer victims argued the bankruptcy was improper.
