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Johnson & Johnson said it would salary an estimated $5.5bn to resoluteness tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its babe powder and different talc products caused ovarian cancer, successful a landmark deal that could extremity a contentious, decade-long ineligible battle.
Johnson & Johnson connected Monday said nan colony covers astir 76,000 claims, including ones consolidated successful a national tribunal successful New Jersey, and related cases successful authorities court, representing astir each of nan remaining talc claims against nan company.
The US multinational had previously settled astir of nan cases alleging that its talc contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma.
Plaintiffs’ rule firms confirmed nan woody connected Monday, saying it was a bully solution aft a 10-year tribunal battle. The woody must beryllium accepted by 95% of nan ovarian crab claimants successful authorities aliases national tribunal earlier it becomes final.
Johnson & Johnson’s vice-president of litigation, Erik Haas, said nan claims were “meritless” and that nan institution was consenting to settee successful bid to get closure.
“While we are assured nan institution would person yet prevailed pinch further litigation, arsenic it has successful nan immense mostly of cases tried to date, this solution allows nan institution to put this matter down it and stay focused connected its ngo to create medicines and devices that prevention lives,” Haas said.
Johnson & Johnson expects to salary $3bn successful 2027, and it will make further payments successful 2028. But nan woody could beryllium worthy more, depending connected really galore group participate successful nan settlement.
Chris Seeger, a lawyer who represents astir 2,500 clients pinch talc claims and helped discuss nan agreement, said Johnson & Johnson could yet salary $7bn aliases more.
The colony assigns circumstantial values to qualifying ovarian crab claims but does not headdress Johnson & Johnson’s full payout, Seeger said. “We sewage a adjacent settlement, and our clients are going to beryllium happy pinch it.”
Johnson & Johnson reached nan colony aft a bid of wins successful court, including victories successful individual trials, successful efforts to disqualify plaintiffs’ lawyers from nan litigation, and tribunal rulings against experts that plaintiffs had utilized to beryllium their cases successful court.
The company, headquartered successful New Jersey, won a important tribunal triumph successful nan long-running ineligible conflict past week, erstwhile a national judge formed uncertainty connected individual plaintiffs’ expertise to beryllium that talc specifically caused their ovarian cancer.
Johnson & Johnson has agelong denied that its talc products caused cancer, saying that talc was safe and did not incorporate asbestos.
The institution stopped trading talc-based babe powder successful nan US successful 2020, switching to a cornstarch product. But litigation resumed successful March 2025, aft being put connected clasp for much than 3 years while Johnson & Johnson unsuccessfully pursued a strategy known arsenic nan “Texas 2 step”, filing 3 bankruptcies done a shell-company subsidiary successful an effort to settee nan cases. Each bankruptcy ended successful dismissal.
Before nan bankruptcy attempts, Johnson & Johnson had a mixed grounds successful talc trials, with a multibillion dollar verdict successful favour of 22 women who said baby powder caused their ovarian cancer. The institution won immoderate tests outright and had different verdicts reduced connected appeal.
Unlike nan projected bankruptcy settlements, Monday’s statement applies only to existing claims and does not reside early lawsuits.
The removal of early claims made much money disposable to existent plaintiffs than nan bankruptcy connection did, and it besides accelerates nan payments truthful that each claims will beryllium paid wrong 18 months alternatively of being dispersed retired complete much than a decade, Seeger said.
