Johnson and Johnson a mega corporation worth an estimated $435 million filed for bankruptcy today. One of the same ones pushing out the Covid vaccine that was rushed to production to save the world! I know you like "hey is that the same baby powder that some have been using for years," yes that same company. They have maintained through out the lawsuits that their talcum powder is safe and does not cause cancer, but they stopped selling it last year. Many companies have filed chapter 11 bankruptcy to avoid lawsuits and the big payouts.
The company placed tens of thousands of claims linking talc-based products to cancer into bankruptcy. They had a subsidiary that they created to take care of the claims it was a corporate affiliate holding talc-related liabilities . They filed it for protection "to resolve all claims related to cosmetic talc in a manner that is equitable to all parties, including any current and future claimants," they say but the claims probably could come in for decades. J and J is the latest company to file chapter 11 as a mechanism to settle large numbers of lawsuits over defective products or other harms. Victims lawyers was afraid of something like this happening. Their lawyers said that chapter 11 was not meant to help healthy companies avoid accountability.
The companies filings underscore the risks it faces from talc litigations, as of July totaled 34,600 lawsuits linking Johnson's Baby Powder to ovarian cancer, asbestos poisoning and other illnesses. The lawyers feared this cause it would protect assets of the company and pressure the plaintiffs to accept settlements. Chapter 11 give corporate defendants a powerful tool to drive legal settlements, such as an automatic halt on discovery proceedings and trials. J and J said that they are providing financial backing for a compensation plan that would be hammered out in bankruptcy court, meaning limited liability in other words. "We are taking these actions to bring certainty to all parties involved in the cosmetic talc cases," said Michael Ullmann, J and J's executive vice president and general counsel.
They maintained that their talcum powder does not cause cancer and that numerous tests over the past 40 years did not show a presence of asbestos but yet they stopped selling it last year, Why? They have took some claims to court in the past years winning some cases and losing some, the biggest being a judgement out of Missouri for 2.1 billion this summer. Its a mix of feelings in the communities' with people saying they have been using it for years to have no adverse affects and others believing that if a company is guilty of negligence they should face liability and not escape the consequences.
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