J&J Can’t Block Suit Claiming It Lied About Asbestos in Talc (1)

Johnson & Johnson can’t use its baby powder bankruptcy to prevent a lawsuit that accuses the company of hiding evidence that its industrial talc operation exposed workers to the toxic material asbestos, a federal judge ruled.

The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of LTL Management sided with the family of a man who sued J&J in 1986. The man agreed to drop his lawsuit after the company produced sworn testimony claiming no tests ever showed J&J’s industrial talc contained asbestos, according to court documents. He died in 1994.

The family now plans to sue J&J, saying that testimony was false, ...