Johnson & Johnson has threatened to use a second bankruptcy filing to shield itself from thousands of cancer lawsuits related to its talc-based baby powder, lawyers representing the complainants said in a court filing, Seeking Alpha reported. "There is no reason Johnson & Johnson should be permitted to access the tools of bankruptcy to address their liability at this time," a group of lawyers on behalf of talc claimants wrote. Based on a controversial legal maneuver called "Texas two-step," J&J established a subsidiary called LTL in 2021 to hold all its talc liabilities and later placed it into bankruptcy protection. However, that strategy failed early this year when the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the company noting that neither JNJ nor LTL was in financial distress to qualify for bankruptcy protection. J&J (JNJ) requested the Third Circuit to delay the court order from taking effect and allow it time to file a U.S. Supreme Court appeal. The court denied the request and directed a bankruptcy judge to dismiss LTL's chapter 11 case.
