A lawyer who is trying to broker a settlement in Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder cancer lawsuits proposed that it can resolve the decade-long litigation and any future cases for $19 billion — $10 billion more than the company offered in two failed trips through bankruptcy court, Bloomberg News reported. James Conlan, a former law firm partner who used to defend J&J against baby powder suits, now runs a business aimed at helping corporations corral liability in mass personal injury litigation. He floated his proposal to J&J’s board in November, according to a court filing unsealed this week. But J&J rejected it and insisted a third chapter 11 filing by one of its units is the best way forward, even though courts previously ruled the world’s largest maker of health-care products wasn’t in enough financial distress to use that process. But Conlan’s proposal — backed by leaders of law firms suing J&J over claims that the talcum in its baby powder contained cancerous asbestos — is the first time plaintiffs have said publicly how much J&J should pay to resolve more than 50,000 cases that have created an overhang on the company’s stock price. Clare Boyle, a J&J spokeswoman, said in a statement that an “improper and unethical collaboration” between Conlan and a plaintiffs’ lawyer “was designed to thwart a reasonable and appropriate resolution of the talc litigation.” J&J contends its talc-based products don’t cause cancer and it has marketed its baby powder appropriately for more than 100 years. Still, the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company has been moving since 2020 to replace talcum powder in its products with cornstarch.
