A bankruptcy judge authorized Jones Day to continue representing Johnson & Johnson’s talc subsidiary in chapter 11, rejecting arguments that the law firm can’t be trusted to look out for the interests of cancer victims because it designed the strategy to limit J&J’s liability, the Wall Street Journal reported. Judge Michael Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, N.J., said on Tuesday that Jones Day’s past work for J&J on a transaction that sent its talc-related liabilities into chapter 11 doesn’t mean the firm has a disqualifying conflict of interest, as injury lawyers allege. Judge Kaplan said that Jones Day’s work for J&J, which ended two days before the recently-formed talc subsidiary filed chapter 11 in October, doesn’t mean the law firm will favor the interests of the parent company over its bankrupt unit, LTL Management LLC. Instead, the judge said evidence shows that LTL and J&J have a shared interest in settling the talc liability in chapter 11. That fact ensures that neither Jones Day nor LTL could give priority to a competing interest favoring J&J that could influence the bankruptcy case, Judge Kaplan said.
