Johnson & Johnson reached a tentative settlement Tuesday to resolve state investigations into whether it misled consumers about the safety of talc products that thousands of lawsuits allege are carcinogenic. It was announced that it had been reached.
The agreement includes 42 states and Washington, DC. The company has tentatively agreed to pay about $700 million to resolve the state's claims. According to the Wall Street Journal.
“Consistent with the plan we outlined last year, we continue to pursue several avenues to achieve a comprehensive and final resolution of the talc litigation,” Eric Haas, J&J's vice president of worldwide litigation, said in a statement. ” he said.
The settlement does not apply to private plaintiffs' lawsuits against the company, some of which are scheduled to go to trial later this year.
J&J maintains that its now-discontinued talc products are safe and not carcinogenic. It previously set aside $400 million to settle state claims.
The company, which reported fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, still faces more than 50,000 lawsuits over talc, most of them by women with ovarian cancer.
A small number of cases involve patients with mesothelioma, a type of cancer associated with asbestos.
The company recently settled some mesothelioma lawsuits for an undisclosed amount, but maintains that its talc does not contain asbestos.
The company twice attempted to resolve the lawsuit by filing talc debt into bankruptcy, but both attempts were rejected by the courts.
In its most recent failed bankruptcy plan, the company had proposed paying $8.9 billion to talc claimants.
J&J announced last year that it planned to file for bankruptcy for a third time.
Settlements with states could make that easier, as some states have previously argued that they can continue to pursue claims during bankruptcy proceedings, unlike private plaintiffs.
Courts have not resolved the issue.
Talc cases have had mixed success in court, with some leading plaintiffs winning, including a $2.1 billion verdict awarded to 22 women with ovarian cancer in 2020.
In October, the New Jersey Court of Appeals threw out a $223.8 million judgment against the company, finding the testimony of the plaintiffs' expert witnesses unsound.
The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder and switched to cornstarch-based products, citing increasing litigation and “misinformation” about the safety of talc products.
