A U.S. court on Monday rejected pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson’s bankruptcy strategy to resolve billions of dollars in lawsuits that alleged the firm’s talc products cause cancer.
A decision handed down by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia dismissed a Chapter 11 petition filed by a recently created J&J subsidiary LTL Management in October to address more than 38,000 lawsuits from plaintiffs alleging the company’s baby powder and other talc products caused cancer.
Before the bankruptcy filing, J&J faced costs from $3.5 billion in verdicts and settlements, including one in which 22 women were eventually awarded a judgment of more than $2 billion, according to court records….