Johnson & Johnson is weighing a third attempt to use bankruptcy for an $8.9 billion settlement of tens of thousands of lawsuits that allege tainted talc in the company’s baby powder caused cancer, the health care giant told investors yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. Erik Haas, J&J’s lawyer in charge of litigation, said during the company’s earnings call Tuesday that the world’s largest maker of health-care products is working with law firms representing “the vast majority” of talc victims to settle all current and future cases that could potentially cost J&J billions of dollars in damages if they go to jury trials. “We’re pursuing a consensual resolution of the talc claims through another bankruptcy,” Haas said during the earnings call. He added that J&J also will continue to “vigorously defend itself” in talc cases that come to trial while it explores the bankruptcy option once again. Courts have twice rejected J&J’s attempts to use the bankruptcy courts to force a talc settlement by setting up a trust to pay victims. Many J&J claimants have vocally opposed relying on a trust. In July, a judge in New Jersey rejected J&J’s second bankruptcy attempt, in which the company sought to resolve at least 40,000 suits for about $8.9 billion. The judge said J&J didn’t meet the test for financial distress imposed by a federal appeals court. The company has vowed to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court.
