The nearly $9 billion figure comes after the company initially set aside$2 billion for litigation costsin October 2021. “All current and future talc claims” would be covered, the company’s April 4 statement says, which added it was payable over the next 25 years.
Thousands of lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson claimed thetalc powderhad caused customers to develop either ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, which is an aggressive cancer that can affect the linings of the lungs, abdomen or heart.
Johnson & Johnson’s statement said thebillions of dollars earmarked for lawsuitswas not “an admission of wrongdoing, nor an indication that the company has changed its longstanding position that its talcum powder products are safe.”
A subsidiary, LTL Management LLC, re-filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a plan that would “efficiently resolve all claims arising from cosmetic talc litigation against the Company and its affiliates in North America.”
Haas said the new plan was proposed because litigation cases would “take decades and impose significant costs on LTL and the system.”
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“Resolving this matter through the proposed reorganization plan is both more equitable and more efficient, allows claimants to be compensated in a timely manner, and enables the Company to remain focused on our commitment to profoundly and positively impact health for humanity,” Haas said.
Johnson & Johnson currently faces more than40,000 lawsuitsover the talc powder, the BBC reports. The company’s statement claims it has “has won the vast majority of cosmetic talc-related jury trials that have been litigated to date.”
However, there have beensuccessful casesagainst the company including $2.12 billion in damages awarded to a group of 22 women in 2021, who claimed theirovarian cancer was linked to the company’s talc products, Reuters reported.
source: people.com
