J&J talc claimants say company is hindering case investigation
BNN Bloomberg
A lawyer for claimants suing Johnson & Johnson over its baby powder wants a bankruptcy judge to force the pharma giant to produce requested information, saying it’s hindering efforts to investigate the case.
A lawyer for claimants suing Johnson & Johnson over its baby powder wants a bankruptcy judge to force the pharma giant to produce requested information, saying it’s hindering efforts to investigate the case.
“There has been what appears to be a concerted effort to obstruct, limit and delay discovery,” in the case, Michael S. Winograd, co-counsel to two official claimants’ committees, wrote in a Dec. 28 letter. A Dec. 23 response from J&J saying it wouldn’t fulfill the requests “has necessitated a forthcoming motion to compel,” wrote Winograd, a partner at Brown Rudnick.
J&J spun its talc liabilities into a separate unit, LTL Management LLC, and put the unit into bankruptcy Oct. 14, adding to the complexity of the case and sparking controversy because it’s a profitable company. It’s facing 38,000 lawsuits charging that its talc products caused cancer and has pushed to create a trust to pay victims.
Winograd said the original claimant committee emailed information requests to J&J counsel on Dec. 16. After “radio silence for four days,” J&J said it wouldn’t accept requests about future claims for LTL.
Representatives for J&J didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Jan. 11 hearing scheduled to consider LTL’s proposed appointment of Joseph W. Grier III as legal representative for future talc claimants should be delayed, the letter said.
