The American pharmacy company Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay 8.9 million US dollars to settle the Cancer Talc lawsuits. If this proposal gets approved by the court and a majority of the plaintiffs then the company will not have to face the law before the court.
There are thousands of lawsuits alleging that the talcum powder manufactured by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has been causing cancer to customers. The cases have been going on in court for more than ten years.
As of now, it has been decided to pay out the million-dollar settlement over 25 years by appointing a subsidiary in between. The same subsidiary has filed for bankruptcy which enables the 8.9 million US dollar deal as a trust amount.
If this gets approved by a bankruptcy court it will dissolve all the present and future accusations that involve Johnson & Johnson that has traces of talc, like the baby powder. This information was provided by the company in a court filing.
The company along with this subsidiary has put forward the argument that the bankruptcy will serve a greater good for all parties involved including the plaintiffs.
The company viewed that this move will act more equitable than a lottery that the trial courts offer in which some of the litigants end up getting bigger amounts and others get nothing.
The claimants framed the product as the reason for ovarian cancer among the female user community. The cancer condition was diagnosed in the customers who used the product for feminine hygiene. Another claim was that the same product causes Mesothelioma, the cancer condition that affects the lungs and other organs.
Asbestos exposure is the only known cause of Mesothelioma which is a type of cancer that develops in the lining that acts as a covering for the outer surface of some internal organs, mainly lungs.
The lawyers of the plaintiffs welcomed the 8.9 million deal and referred to it as a significant victory. The company has informed that it does have commitments from more than 60,000 of the current claimants that will support the new settlement terms.
This is not the first time that the company has offered a settlement amount. Previously it was 2 billion US dollars. The former customers have filed more than 40,000 lawsuits against the company.
The allegations say that the company’s talc-based baby powder is a reason for cancer. Some of the claims pointed out that the same product contains asbestos particles that cause cancer.
Earlier, in 2020 J&J had stopped the sale of the alleged product in the United States. The reason for this was quoted that the misinformation that has been on air had resulted in the demand for the product in the market decreasing. Following that, two years later in 2022, the company announced a global halt in the sales of talc-based baby powder.
The worldwide vice president of litigation for J&J, Erik Haas said that the company still does not believe that its products were a cause of cancer. He mentioned the claims using the words specious and accused that such claims were not backed up by scientific evidence.
He continued the company was willing to settle the deal for around 9 million dollars because it will more decades of procedures in court, and the same would be expensive.
Haas further said that resolving the legal battles through the proposed reorganization plan was both more efficient and more equitable.
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He viewed that the cation to resolve the case would allow the claimants to be compensated in a timely manner and that the same will enable the company to remain focused on its commitment. He defined the commitment of the company as to profoundly and positively impact health for humanity.
The now black-labeled product of the company was launched more than 130 years and the major claim was that the product will prevent nappy rash in babies.
The company has been fighting in court for more than ten years in a row against the lawsuits and has won most of the cases. But what came as a blow was that the cases in which J&J lost were the most significant ones. In one such case, the 22 women who conducted the case received more than 2 billion US dollars through judgment.
An investigation report from a mainstream media house has, earlier, reported that Johnson & Johnson was completely aware that the components in some of its products might cause cancer in the users.
The report continued that the company conducts product tests frequently the cancerogenic findings have appeared many times but J&J chose to stay silent and hide the report. The company also kept the report away from the public and did not withdraw the product from the global market.
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