Johnson & Johnson Says Law Firm Profits Motivate Opposition to Bankruptcy Deal
- To save strategy for ending 38,000 suits, company hits lawyers
- J&J asks judge to let it use bankruptcy to start mediation
Photographer: Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
Johnson & Johnson accused law firms of rejecting the company’s bankruptcy strategy for paying tens of thousands of cancer claims so plaintiffs’ attorneys can make more money filing lawsuits than negotiating a deal.
The health-care giant asked a federal judge in Trenton, New Jersey to allow it to use the Chapter 11 case of a small J&J unit to set up a trust fund that would take responsibility for claims filed by more than 40,000 people who say tainted talc in baby powder causes cancer. Attorneys for people suing J&J have asked the judge to dismiss the bankruptcy.