A US district judge dismissed a lawsuit on Thursday. The lawsuit had accused Johnson & Johnson of fraudulent conduct, alleging it repeatedly attempted to use the bankruptcy proceedings of a shell company to resolve tens of thousands of cases claiming its baby powder and other talc products cause cancer.
The lawsuit, filed by five cancer patients who developed the illness after using Johnson & Johnson's talc products, alleged the bankruptcy strategy was designed to strip billions of dollars from plaintiffs, aiming to "hinder, delay, and deceive these women, preventing them from having an opportunity to plead their case in court." The plaintiffs claimed that for years, from October 2021 to March 2025, their cases were stalled due to the bankruptcy-related stays.
This lawsuit stems from a broad legal battle surrounding Johnson & Johnson's discontinued talc-based baby powder. Tens of thousands of women allege these products contained asbestos, leading to ovarian cancer and other cancers. Johnson & Johnson, however, maintains that its baby powder and other talc-containing products are safe, asbestos-free, and do not cause cancer.
US District Judge Michael Shipp ruled on Thursday that the cancer patients failed to demonstrate they suffered any concrete harm as a result of the bankruptcy delays.
Judge Shipp, who is also overseeing more than 67,000 lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson that have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation, stated, "The harm they allege is entirely hypothetical, as it depends on the plaintiffs first prevailing in the talc litigation."
Judge Shipp indicated he could not accept the argument that delay itself constitutes a harm, as this is "fundamentally incompatible with the architecture and purpose of bankruptcy law." US bankruptcy law automatically halts lawsuits against a debtor, providing time to negotiate a comprehensive settlement and preventing some creditors from claiming assets ahead of others.
Patricia Kipnis, the attorney representing the five female plaintiffs, said on Thursday that they "disagree with the ruling and will review it with their clients to discuss an appeal."
Eric Haas, Vice President of Global Litigation for Johnson & Johnson, stated that the court correctly dismissed what he called the "baseless allegations" in the lawsuit.
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