A US chapter choose on Monday rejected Johnson & Johnson’s $10 billion proposal to finish tens of hundreds of lawsuits alleging that its child powder and different talc merchandise trigger ovarian most cancers, marking the third time the corporate’s chapter technique has failed in courtroom.
J&J has been trying to resolve the lawsuits by means of a subsidiary firm’s chapter, after two earlier chapter makes an attempt failed in different courts.
However the choose overseeing its case, US Chapter Choose Christopher Lopez in Houston, stated that the corporate didn’t belong in chapter.
“While the Court’s decision is not an easy one, it is the right one,” Lopez wrote.
Lopez stated J&J’s proposed settlement didn’t have enough assist from ladies who alleged J&J merchandise brought on their most cancers.
It additionally went too far in releasing authorized claims in opposition to entities that had not filed for chapter themselves, together with retailers that bought J&J merchandise and Kenvue, a shopper well being enterprise that J&J spun off in 2023.
The proposal had too many issues to be fastened in chapter, Lopez wrote.
J&J stated in an announcement that it could not enchantment, but additionally that it had no intention of settling the claims and would as a substitute “return to the tort system to litigate and defeat these meritless talc claims.”
Andy Birchfield, an lawyer who represents plaintiffs against the chapter settlement, stated that J&J’s chapter technique was “nothing more than a bad-faith maneuver to avoid full accountability.”
“With this ruling, we are now moving forward without delay to trial, where our clients will finally have the chance to present their cases before a jury and obtain the justice they deserve,” Birchfield stated.
J&J had argued that the third proposal, in Texas chapter courtroom, ought to succeed as a result of there was extra money on the desk and the deal was supported by a majority of most cancers victims who voted on it.
Lopez criticized the votes that J&J collected from plaintiffs’ attorneys, saying there have been critical flaws in votes solid each for and in opposition to the plan.
J&J collected 90,000 votes, saying it had 83% of plaintiffs’ assist, however Lopez stated that “at least half should not be counted.”
Some attorneys voted on their purchasers’ behalf with out having clear authority to take action, and others stated that they had obtained their purchasers’ consent however didn’t current proof that that they had spoken with them, Lopez stated.
J&J “unnecessarily rushed” the votes, and plaintiffs’ attorneys testified that they have been pressured to solid votes on their purchasers’ behalf as a substitute of permitting them to vote instantly, in accordance with Lopez’s opinion.
Opponents of the deal, together with attorneys for some most cancers victims and a authorities chapter watchdog, had argued that the third chapter, like the primary two, ought to be dismissed as a result of the corporate is just not in “financial distress.” A rich firm like J&J shouldn’t use chapter to forestall most cancers victims from having their day in courtroom, opponents stated.
J&J faces lawsuits from over 60,000 claimants alleging that its child powder and different talc merchandise contained asbestos and brought on ovarian most cancers. The settlement would have ended these lawsuits and prevented comparable lawsuits from being filed sooner or later.
J&J, which started promoting Johnson’s child powder in 1894, says that its merchandise are protected, don’t include asbestos, and don’t trigger most cancers. J&J stopped promoting talc-based child powder within the US in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product.
Earlier than its third chapter try, which sought to settle claims that its talc merchandise brought on ovarian and different gynecological cancers, J&J had individually settled lawsuits alleging that they brought on mesothelioma, a uncommon type of most cancers related to asbestos publicity.
J&J had estimated that ovarian most cancers sufferers would obtain between $75,000 and $150,000 below the settlement, though the precise quantities trusted the severity of a affected person’s damage and the variety of present and future claims that have been finally coated by the settlement.
