A federal judge ruled that Johnson & Johnson cannot use its baby powder bankruptcy to avoid a lawsuit accusing the company of concealing evidence that its industrial talc operation exposed workers to the toxic material asbestos.
The judge presiding over LTL Management’s bankruptcy case sided with the family of a man who sued J&J in 1986. According to court documents, the man agreed to drop his lawsuit after the company provided sworn testimony claiming that no tests ever revealed J&J’s industrial talc contained asbestos. He passed away in 1994.
The family intends to sue J&J, claiming that the testimony was false and citing new evidence. Lawyers for the family claim in court documents that thousands of asbestos lawsuits against J&J failed due to false information provided by the company.
Asbestos is a hazardous industrial material that has been linked to fatal lung diseases. The product was used in everything from insulation to automobile brakes until it was discovered to be toxic. Companies have paid tens of billions of dollars to hundreds of thousands of victims since the 1980s.
Talc Mine
J&J once owned Windsor Minerals, a talc mine that produced material used in baby powder and other products. The company has long denied that any asbestos was present in the talc used in its consumer products. It is currently dealing with over 40,000 claims that talc in baby powder causes cancer.
J&J said in an emailed statement that it will fight the pending lawsuit.
“We stand by the safety of Windsor Minerals’ talc, which was once a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.” In the late 1980s, the company was sold to a non-J&J entity. Johnson & Johnson denies the claims made in this suit and will defend it if it proceeds.”
J&J established LTL Management and declared bankruptcy last year in order to resolve all of those claims by establishing a trust fund with at least $2 billion to pay alleged victims. The baby powder lawsuits have been put on hold while the company is in bankruptcy.
During a court hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan ruled that the proposed lawsuit alleging J&J hid evidence differs sufficiently from the baby powder cases to proceed. Kaplan left the door open for J&J to argue that the suit should be halted in the future.
LTL Management LLC, 21-30589, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey, is the name of the J&J bankruptcy case (Trenton).