Johnson & Johnson agrees to pay $5.5B to settle talc lawsuits

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) on Monday said it reached a settlement that it would pay an estimated $5.5 billion to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and talc products cause ovarian cancer, which could end years of litigation on the subject.

The company said the proposed settlement would cover about 76,000 claims – including those that have been consolidated in federal court in New Jersey and related cases in state court – to cover nearly all the outstanding claims against J&J.

J&J previously settled most of the cases alleging its talc contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma.

The deal was confirmed by plaintiffs' law firms on Monday, saying it was a good resolution after a decade-long court battle. The deal has to be accepted by 95% of the ovarian cancer claimants in state or federal court before it becomes final.

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J&J denied wrongdoing in its announcement of the settlement, saying that the plaintiffs weren't able to prove their claims that the talc products caused cancer cases and that the settlement is a way of efficiently ending the litigation.

"While we are confident the company would ultimately have prevailed with further litigation, as it has in the vast majority of cases tried to date, this resolution allows the company to put this matter behind it and remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives," said Erik Haas, worldwide VP of litigation at Johnson & Johnson.

The company expects to pay out $3 billion in 2027 and make further payments in 2028, though the deal could be worth more depending on how many people participate in the settlement.

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Chris Seeger, an attorney who represents about 2,500 clients with talc claims and helped negotiate the settlement, said J&J could ultimately pay $7 billion or more as the settlement doesn't cap the total payout and rather assigns specific values to qualifying ovarian cancer claims.

Seeger told Reuters in an interview that the plaintiffs "got a fair settlement, and our clients are going to be happy with it."

The settlement comes after J&J secured a series of courtroom victories, including in individual trials, moves to disqualify plaintiffs' lawyers and rulings against experts used by plaintiffs. The company won a significant court victory last week when a federal judge cast doubt on individual plaintiffs' ability to prove that talc specifically caused their ovarian cancer.

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J&J has long denied that its talc products caused cancer, saying the products were safe and didn't contain asbestos. It stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020 and switched to a cornstarch product.

The company attempted a legal strategy in which shell-company subsidiaries declared bankruptcy in an effort to settle the cases, though that proved unsuccessful.

It had a mixed record when talc cases went to trial, winning some outright and reducing verdicts on appeal, though it was hit with a multibillion-dollar verdict in a case brought by 22 women.

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The new settlement only applies to existing claims and doesn't address future lawsuits. The exclusion of future claims made more money available to current plaintiffs and also accelerated the payments so that all claims will be paid within 18 months instead of being spread out over more than a decade, Seeger said.

Reuters contributed to this report.