J&J Talc Plaintiffs Lose Bid to End LTL Unit’s Bankruptcy

A cancer victim group suing Johnson & Johnson over its talc products failed in their long-shot bid to skip lower courts and have the Third Circuit shut down a J&J subsidiary’s bankruptcy.

The Chapter 11 proceedings of the J&J subsidiary, LTL Management LLC, will continue on an expedited basis in a bankruptcy court in New Jersey, Judge Thomas Ambro of the US Appeals Court for the Third Circuit said Tuesday.

A committee representing talc claimants asked the Third Circuit last week to consider the case directly, arguing that LTL’s case is an abuse of the bankruptcy system.

But the committee’s “mandamus” request is “a drastic and extraordinary remedy,” Ambro wrote.

J&J is trying to use the LTL’s second bankruptcy to improperly derail litigation alleging its talc products, including baby powder, caused cancer, the committee said. J&J created LTL in 2021 to handle tens of thousands of talc-related claims and denies its talc products cause cancer.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey’s recent ruling allowing LTL’s second Chapter 11 to continue—while also halting trials against J&J—warranted an “urgent” Third Circuit review.

Hours after LTL’s first bankruptcy was formally dismissed on April 4, the J&J unit filed for Chapter 11 protection again with an $8.9 billion settlement offer.

The case is In re: Official Committee of Talc Claimants, 3d Cir., No. 23-01826, order 5/9/23.