Johnson & Johnson agrees to $8.9 billion talc settlement


Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $8.9 billion to tens of thousands of people who alleged the company's talcum powder caused cancer, The New York Times reports. Lawyers for some of the plaintiffs called the proposed settlement a "significant victory" in a case that has been ongoing for over a decade.
The company would pay out the proposed settlement over 25 years through a subsidiary, LTL Management, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday to enable the $8.9 billion payout, Johnson & Johnson said in a court filing. If the bankruptcy court approves it, "the agreement will resolve all current and future claims involving Johnson & Johnson products that contain talc, such as baby powder," the Times summarizes. The company will also need to convince enough claimants to approve the settlement plan. An earlier bankruptcy filing that included a $2 billion settlement was dismissed by a U.S. appeals court earlier this year.
In a statement by lawyers representing nearly 70,000 plaintiffs, the "landmark" settlement was described as a "significant victory for the tens of thousands of women suffering from gynecological cancers caused by J.&J.'s talc-based products." But other lawyers representing claimants opposed the settlement, "though they acknowledged that approval by the court would apply to all plaintiffs," the Times writes.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
For example, Jason Itkin, whose law firm is representing 10,000 claimants who say the talc-based powders caused their ovarian cancer, said the settlement is "bad for victims" and will likely be blocked in court. "Even though $8.9 billion sounds like a lot of money, when you spread it out it comes out to not very much at all for the people who suffered," he said.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year