Johnson & Johnson's worldwide vice president for litigation said yesterday that the company has recently reached settlements with several law firms over their clients' claims that J&J talc products caused cancer, Reuters reported. The settlements were reached "with a goal to facilitate our pursuit of a consensual prepackaged bankruptcy resolution," Erik Haas said on an investor call. It was not clear whether the deals have been finalized. J&J said in October that it was considering a new bankruptcy filing to resolve talc claims. Courts have rejected its two previous attempts to resolve talc litigation through bankruptcy, most recently a proposed $8.9 billion deal. Haas said that the recent settlements covered cases involving plaintiffs with mesothelioma, a type of cancer linked to asbestos, but did not provide any details about the dollar amounts involved or say how many people they covered. He said the company had resolved all but one of the cases scheduled for trial in 2023, "significantly curtailed" trials in 2024 and did not require the company to record any new charges against earnings. Bloomberg reported earlier yesterday that J&J had reached settlements covering about 100 people.
