What J&J Is Trying to Achieve in Bankruptcy Court: QuickTake

Johnson & Johnson begins a two-week trial on Feb. 18 over its plan to end tens of thousands of lawsuits filed by women or their family members who claim its baby powder gave them cancer. The trial, in federal court in Houston, marks the third time the health-care company has chosen to put a relatively small unit into Chapter 11, angling to use the power of bankruptcy to drive a settlement of the suits.

Courts in New Jersey and Philadelphia stopped earlier attempts by J&J — one of the most profitable companies in the world — to tap bankruptcy. Now ...