A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary is again asking a U.S. judge to pause tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that the company's baby powder and other talc products cause cancer, as it takes another shot at resolving the litigation in bankruptcy after a federal appeals court found its first attempt improper, Reuters reported. At a hearing yesterday in Trenton, N.J., a lawyer for LTL Management argued that the lawsuits, which are already stayed against LTL, should also be stopped against J&J, which has a market value of over $430 billion and has not filed for bankruptcy itself. LTL has said litigation against J&J would imperil its effort to negotiate a comprehensive settlement of all current and future talc claims in its bankruptcy. Two groups of cancer plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog have opposed the company's bid for a stay, arguing that it is a fraudulent attempt to evade the earlier court ruling and that the second bankruptcy has "slim to nonexistent prospects" of success. LTL attorney Greg Gordon pushed back on those arguments at the start of the hearing, saying "the likelihood of a successful reorganization is very high." LTL believes it now has support of 70,000 to 80,000 claimants, enough to meet the 75% voting threshold required for a bankruptcy court to approve the settlement and make it binding on all claimants, Gordon said.
