management llc

J&J Jury’s Cancer Verdict Ramps Up Pressure on Bankruptcy Vote

An $18.8 million jury verdict in favor of a man who said Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder caused his cancer poses a potential setback for the company’s efforts to rally support behind its talc unit’s bankruptcy settlement.

The July 18 verdict is the first in nearly two years to consider the health risks of J&J’s baby powder. It bolsters plaintiffs’ attorneys who have argued during the bankruptcy of J&J’s affiliate, LTL Management LLC, that the talc-based product causes cancer.

By awarding Anthony Hernandez Valadez millions, the California jury has thrown J&J a curveball and potentially influenced claimants to vote against the proposed $8.9 billion settlement designed to resolve tens of thousands of talc claims in LTL’s bankruptcy. It could also place pressure on the judge overseeing the case by inspiring others to try to pursue their claims in front of a jury.

“I think that this verdict supports our view that this is not an adequate proposal and I think any plaintiff should consider this as part of their decision about what they tell their lawyers,” said Chris Tisi, an attorney with Levin Papantonio Rafferty who represents talc claimants.

The verdict is one of multiple large jury verdicts awarded over

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July 27, 2023 by ATTORNEY

3M Unit Bankruptcy Toss Is Second Blow to Mass Tort Defense Play

The termination of 3M Co. unit Aearo Technologies LLC’s bankruptcy casts fresh doubt on the tactic of using Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a legal strategy in mass tort litigation, likely emboldening plaintiffs.

The June 9 decision from Judge Jeffrey J. Graham of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana hewed closely to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit’s analysis earlier this year in its dismissal of a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary’s bankruptcy on similar grounds.

The two rulings are a pair of major setbacks for solvent companies eyeing bankruptcy to handle mass tort liabilities—a practice that has seen substantial growth in recent years.

Graham’s decision, along with the Third Circuit’s ruling on J&J unit LTL Management LLC, creates “hurdles that may be absent from the bankruptcy code,” said attorney Douglas Mintz of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP.

“I think the biggest application here is it will empower plaintiffs to push more aggressively outside of bankruptcy and leave tort defendants with fewer tools in their toolbox or less certainty that one of the tools will work,” Mintz said.

Graham held that Aearo’s attempt to use bankruptcy to settle approximately 230,000 lawsuits over allegedly defective military

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June 15, 2023 by ATTORNEY
October 2023
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