9/11 Victim Fund Director Feinberg Is Named Mediator for J&J Fight
9/11 Victim Fund Director Feinberg Is Named Mediator for J&J Fight
(Bloomberg) -- The lawyer who oversaw payments to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has agreed to mediate part of the fight between Johnson & Johnson’s former talc supplier and thousands of women who claim the company’s baby powder causes ovarian cancer.
Kenneth R. Feinberg would share duties with another mediator as part of an effort to resolve nearly 14,000 lawsuits against Imerys Talc America. Imerys filed bankruptcy in Delaware in 2019 with plans to force J&J to help pay for a victim’s trust that would settle all current and future lawsuits. J&J claims it isn’t responsible for helping Imerys.
During a virtual court hearing Monday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein said she will likely sign an order setting up the mediation once lawyers submit a final version.
J&J isn’t proposed to be directly involved in the talks, but has been involved in crafting the mediation because it had previously promised to indemnify Imerys against all talc lawsuits. J&J said it may try to obtain any information about the victims trust that the mediating groups exchange as they try to settle their differences.
To try to end all its current and future baby powder claims, J&J put a unit into bankruptcy with plans to pay at least $2 billion into a victims trust. J&J faces about 38,000 lawsuits claiming the talc in its baby powder was tainted and causes ovarian cancer and other health problems, mostly in women.
J&J, which stopped selling baby powder in the U.S. in recent years, argues that the product isn’t responsible for the health problems faced by the women who have sued.
The mediation involves Imerys and another talc company, Cyprus Mines, as well as talc victim representatives and insurance companies that could also be forced to help fund a trust.
Imerys has been fighting to force J&J to honor an indemnity agreement to help cover the cost of talc lawsuits. The company is also fighting some insurers who still oppose the trust fund.
Feinberg spent years helping to distribute $7 billion to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He runs a mediation services company, which would be paid as much as $300,000 a month.
The mediation fees will add to the cost of the Imerys bankruptcy, which has been recently been averaging about $10 million a month, said Linda Richenderfer, an attorney with the Office of the U.S. Trustee, the federal bankruptcy watchdog.
“I do not think I’ve seen a mediation fee of this magnitude before,” Silverstein said. “It’s significant. If the mediation could achieve a global resolution of these matters, it will be well worth the fees.”
The case is In Re Imerys Talc America Inc., 19-10289, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington). To see the docket on Bloomberg Law, click here.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.