J&J puts Baby Powder liabilities into bankruptcy

15 Oct J&J puts Baby Powder liabilities into bankruptcy

Johnson & Johnson  on Thursday put into bankruptcy tens of thousands of legal claims alleging its Baby Powder and other talc-based products caused cancer, offloading the potential liabilities into a newly created subsidiary.

J&J put the talc claims into an entity called LTL Management LLC, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday in North Carolina, according to the company and court records. J&J and its affiliates were not part of the bankruptcy filing.

Tens of thousands of plaintiffs have alleged J&J’s Baby Powder and other talc products contained asbestos and caused cancer, which the company denies. The plaintiffs include women suffering from ovarian cancer and others battling mesothelioma.

J&J executed Thursday’s corporate reshuffling through a contentious legal maneuver known as a Texas two-step bankruptcy, a strategy other companies facing asbestos litigation have used.

In that process, a J&J business split in two through a so-called divisional merger under Texas law. That transaction created LTL, the new entity saddled with J&J’s talc liabilities, according to court papers filed Thursday.

J&J, with a market value exceeding $400 billion, said the talc cases would be halted while LTL navigates bankruptcy proceedings.

The company’s costs defending nearly 40,000 cases have approached $1 billion, according to bankruptcy-court filings Thursday. Settlements and verdicts have cost J&J about $3.5 billion more.

“We are taking these actions to bring certainty to all parties involved in the cosmetic talc cases,” J&J General Counsel Michael Ullmann said in a statement.

“While we continue to stand firmly behind the safety of our cosmetic talc products, we believe resolving this matter as quickly and efficiently as possible is in the best interests of the (company) and all stakeholders,” Ullmann added.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers decried the bankruptcy filing. J&J’s “bankruptcy gimmick is as despicable as it is brazen” and “an unconscionable abuse of the legal system,” said Linda Lipsen, chief executive of the American Association for Justice, a trial lawyers’ group, in a statement.

J&J said it would fund LTL’s legal costs for talc cases in an amount later determined by a bankruptcy judge, with an initial advance of $2 billion. LTL has also received certain royalty revenue streams with a present value of more than $350 million to contribute to potential legal costs, J&J said.