J&J exploring putting talc liabilities into bankruptcy | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
June 03, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, JUNE 03, 2025
J&J exploring putting talc liabilities into bankruptcy

World+Biz

Reuters
19 July, 2021, 08:50 am
Last modified: 19 July, 2021, 08:55 am

Related News

  • End of the party? Tupperware files for bankruptcy
  • Drake helps Serie A club Venezia get out of bankruptcy
  • US retailer Express, which imports $100m Bangladeshi apparel annually, files for bankruptcy
  • Largest rice miller sinks into largest bankruptcy
  • Bankruptcy to prosperity: An expat's resilience to rebuild life abroad

J&J exploring putting talc liabilities into bankruptcy

J&J could also explore using another mechanism to effectuate the bankruptcy filing besides the Texas law

Reuters
19 July, 2021, 08:50 am
Last modified: 19 July, 2021, 08:55 am
A bottle of Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder is seen in a photo illustration taken in New York, February 24, 2016. Photo :Reuters
A bottle of Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder is seen in a photo illustration taken in New York, February 24, 2016. Photo :Reuters

Johnson & Johnson is exploring a plan to offload liabilities from widespread Baby Powder litigation into a newly created business that would then seek bankruptcy protection, according to seven people familiar with the matter.

During settlement discussions, one of the healthcare conglomerate's attorneys has told plaintiffs' lawyers that J&J could pursue the bankruptcy plan, which could result in lower payouts for cases that do not settle beforehand, some of the people said. Plaintiffs' lawyers would initially be unable to stop J&J from taking such a step, though could pursue legal avenues to challenge it later.

J&J has not yet decided whether to pursue the bankruptcy plan and could ultimately abandon the idea, some of the people said. Reuters could not determine whether J&J has retained restructuring lawyers to help the company explore the bankruptcy plan.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

J&J faces legal actions from tens of thousands of plaintiffs alleging its Baby Powder and other talc products contained asbestos and caused cancer. The plaintiffs include women suffering from ovarian cancer and others battling mesothelioma.

"Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. has not decided on any particular course of action in this litigation other than to continue to defend the safety of talc and litigate these cases in the tort system, as the pending trials demonstrate," the J&J subsidiary housing the company's talc products said in a statement provided to Reuters. J&J declined further comment.

Should J&J proceed, plaintiffs who have not settled could find themselves in protracted bankruptcy proceedings with a likely much smaller company. Future payouts to plaintiffs would be dependent on how J&J decides to fund the entity housing its talc liabilities.

J&J is now considering using Texas's "divisive merger" law, which allows a company to split into at least two entities. For J&J, that could create a new entity housing talc liabilities that would then file for bankruptcy to halt litigation, some of the people said.

The maneuver is known among legal experts as a Texas two-step bankruptcy, a strategy other companies facing asbestos litigation have used in recent years.

J&J could also explore using another mechanism to effectuate the bankruptcy filing besides the Texas law, some of the people said.

A 2018 Reuters investigation https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/johnsonandjohnson-ca... found J&J knew for decades that asbestos, a known carcinogen, lurked in its Baby Powder and other cosmetic talc products. The company stopped selling Baby Powder in the U.S. and Canada in May 2020, in part due to what it called "misinformation" and "unfounded allegations" about the talc-based product. J&J maintains its consumer talc products are safe and confirmed through thousands of tests to be asbestos-free.

The blue-chip company, which boasts a roughly $443 billion market value, faces legal actions from more than 30,000 plaintiffs alleging its talc products were unsafe. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear J&J's appeal of a Missouri court ruling that resulted in $2 billion of damages awarded to women alleging the company's talc caused their ovarian cancer.

Plaintiffs' lawyers view the two-step bankruptcy strategy as one that skirts potentially expensive settlements or judgments. Companies view it as a way to corral numerous lawsuits in one court for efficient negotiations that bankruptcy law dictates for asbestos liabilities. The company outside bankruptcy can reach a funding agreement with the entity navigating a court restructuring to cover future settlement payments.

In 2017, Brawny paper towels manufacturer Georgia-Pacific used the Texas law to move asbestos liabilities to an entity that later filed for bankruptcy in North Carolina.

Bankruptcy cases filed to resolve litigation, including those related to asbestos, often take years, and almost never fully repay creditors. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, for instance, is near resolving thousands of opioid lawsuits after two years of bankruptcy negotiations with a plan valued at more than $10 billion to address trillions of dollars in claims.

Another company, DBMP LLC, filed for bankruptcy last year to resolve asbestos liabilities and said the case could take up to eight years, according to a company press release.

J&J also faces litigation alleging it contributed to the U.S. opioid epidemic and recently recalled certain spray sunscreen products after discovering some of them contained low levels of benzene, another carcinogen.

The company in June agreed to pay $263 million to resolve opioid claims in New York. It has denied wrongdoing related to its opioids.

J&J / talc / Bankruptcy

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image/Reuters
    Overall balance of payment deficit shrinks nearly $5b in July-Apr FY25
  • Representational Photo: Collected
    Exports rebound in May with 11.45% YoY growth, highest in 11 months
  • Salahuddin speaking to reporters after talks with the National Consensus Commission at the Foreign Service Academy on 3 June. Photo: TBS
    BNP wants only national election under 90-day caretaker govt: Salahuddin

MOST VIEWED

  • Advance tax on bus, truck, taxi to rise by up to 88%
    Advance tax on bus, truck, taxi to rise by up to 88%
  • Illustration: Duniya Jahan/TBS
    How Tk5 lakh tax exemption can be availed by salaried individuals
  • 17 makeshift cattle markets leased in Dhaka for Eid: Who gets the most
    17 makeshift cattle markets leased in Dhaka for Eid: Who gets the most
  • Representational image. File photo: Collected
    Primary education to see funding cut, madrasah budget to rise
  • Budget FY26: Housing sector may take a hit, flat prices set to rise
    Budget FY26: Housing sector may take a hit, flat prices set to rise
  • Illustration: Duniya Jahan/TBS
    Interim govt unveils national budget of Tk7.90 lakh crore for FY2025-26; first budget cut in history

Related News

  • End of the party? Tupperware files for bankruptcy
  • Drake helps Serie A club Venezia get out of bankruptcy
  • US retailer Express, which imports $100m Bangladeshi apparel annually, files for bankruptcy
  • Largest rice miller sinks into largest bankruptcy
  • Bankruptcy to prosperity: An expat's resilience to rebuild life abroad

Features

Illustration: TBS

The GOAT of all goats!

17h | Magazine
Photo: Nayem Ali

Eid-ul-Adha cattle markets

18h | Magazine
Sketch: TBS

Budget FY26: What corporate Bangladesh expects

1d | Budget
The customers in super shops are carrying their purchases in alternative bags or free paper bags. Photo: Mehedi Hasan

Super shops leading the way in polythene ban implementation

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

The China-United States trade war is about to intensify once again.

The China-United States trade war is about to intensify once again.

25m | TBS World
Russia-Ukraine war: Questions over the effectiveness of the S-400 air defense system

Russia-Ukraine war: Questions over the effectiveness of the S-400 air defense system

45m | TBS World
News of The Day, 03 JUNE 2025

News of The Day, 03 JUNE 2025

1h | TBS News of the day
Bill Gates to give most of his fortune to Africa

Bill Gates to give most of his fortune to Africa

1h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net