J&J, Cancer Victims Ordered to Start Mediation in Bankruptcy

A federal judge ordered a new round of settlement talks between Johnson & Johnson and lawyers who spurned the company’s offer to pay $8.9 billion to end tens of thousands of cancer claims filed by people who used the company’s popular baby powder.

Holdouts want to take their claims to juries around the country instead of joining a proposal that would resolve all current and future lawsuits related to the health-care giant’s talc-based products. About 40,000 people have sued J&J claiming the company for decades sold products like baby powder that were so contaminated that they caused cancer.

J&J denies ...