Ovarian cancer claimants have voted in favor of Johnson & Johnson’s proposed $6.5 billion talc settlement plan, clearing the way for its subsidiary to file for bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
J&J declined to comment on Monday, noting that the final vote has not been certified.
The plan would settle 99% of pending talc suits against J&J, which controversially spun its talc liabilities into a separate company called LLT (formerly LTL) in 2021. LLT has twice unsuccessfully attempted to settle the claims through bankruptcy. This time, it sought the support of claimants, announcing plans in May to file a “consensual prepackaged” Chapter 11 bankruptcy if at least 75% of claimants vote in favor. The company’s next steps remain unclear.
The deal would only settle ovarian cancer claims, which represent the vast majority of remaining cases against J&J. A small number of mesothelioma claims are being addressed outside of the bankruptcy plan.
Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide VP of litigation, has repeatedly talked up the plan, noting in May that “it would take decades to try the remaining cases, meaning most claimants will never see their day in court.”
Critics, including a group of lawyers representing tens of thousands of claimants, have argued that the plan “would cheat victims legitimately harmed by talc.” While J&J stopped manufacturing talc products in the US in 2020, it maintains its talc products were safe and said the decision to stop production was fueled in part by “misinformation about the safety.”