J&J Says There’s ‘No Basis’ for Demands From Talc Claimants

(Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson disputed assertions that it was stalling and failing to cooperate in investigating claims related to its bankrupt talc unit, LTL Management LLC.

“There was and continues to be no basis” for the talc claimants to demand that J&J respond on behalf of LTL, Gregory Starner, a partner at White & Case, said in a Dec. 29 letter to the judge overseeing the case. J&J has responded to requests in a timely manner, he said, and “promptly and correctly objected” to requests that it respond on behalf of LTL. 

J&J’s letter followed a day after a lawyer for claimants suing J&J over its baby powder asked the judge to compel the pharma company to produce requested information. The claimants “issued broad discovery requests” that were privileged or weren’t relevant to the motion to appoint the future claims legal representative, Starner said.

J&J spun its talc liabilities into the LTL subsidiary and put the unit into bankruptcy in October. Some Democratic members of Congress have proposed banning the move, colloquially known as the Texas Two-Step, saying it lets profitable companies exploit rules written decades ago to compensate asbestos victims. The company is facing 38,000 lawsuits charging that its talc products caused cancer and has pushed to create a trust to pay victims.

LTL submitted its own response to the claimants’ letter. The company worked “diligently and quickly” to respond to claimant requests, Gregory M. Gordon, a partner at Jones Day, wrote in a Dec. 29 letter. 

The case is LTL Management LLC, 21-30589, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey.

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