Johnson & Johnson and a committee of cancer victims have agreed to speed up a court appeal of their fight regarding whether the health-care giant can use bankruptcy to end as many as 100,000 talc-related claims, Bloomberg News reported. The move could cut months off the appeals process. The first time the two sides fought about the issue, it took about a year and resulted in the bankruptcy case being dismissed. Now, J&J intends to appeal a decision by US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan to throw out the insolvency case of LTL Management, the unit the company created in order to try to resolve tens of thousands of cancer lawsuits. With Judge Kaplan gearing up to likely sign a final order dismissing the bankruptcy case next week — for the second time — both J&J and the committee of cancer victims want the federal appeals court to take up the matter. The cancer lawsuits have been on hold since J&J put LTL into bankruptcy for the first time in 2021. After that case was dismissed, J&J struck a deal with tens of thousands of claimants and put LTL back into bankruptcy, only to have that case struck down as well.
