J&J’s subsidiary Red River Talc has filed for bankruptcy in Texas court. This is a necessary step to complete the company’s talc settlement proposal, which is believed to be worth about $8 billion.

J&J had tacked another $1.1 billion onto its proposal in early September. According to Reuters, the company also gained the support of a plaintiffs’ lawyer representing thousands of clients, which helped secure the 75% threshold of plaintiff support that J&J needed to move forward.

An Oregon state judge has overturned a win for plaintiff Kyung Lee from June. J&J had been ordered to pay Lee $260 million after she blamed her mesothelioma on decades-long use of the company’s baby powder.

On Aug. 15, a South Carolina state court jury ordered J&J and co-defendant American International Industries to pay $63.4 million in damages to Michael Perry, who blamed his mesothelioma on J&J’s baby powder. Perry had used the powder daily due to a deodorant allergy before he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2023.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied J&J's third attempt at bankruptcy. Bloomberg reported that sources told the news outlet that J&J had met the 75% plaintiff voting threshold to get the $6.5 billion settlement approved through bankruptcy. The settlement still hasn't received court approval.

July has been a very busy month for talc-related lawsuit updates. A federal judge allowed J&J's $6.48 billion, 25-year lawsuit settlement plan to proceed despite plaintiffs' objections. The plan aims to settle thousands of talcum powder cancer lawsuits through a subsidiary's bankruptcy. Critics point out that two previous attempts to settle through bankruptcy failed, and the offer denies plaintiffs fair compensation.

Also this month, a judge dismissed J&J's subsidiary LTL Management's lawsuits against Dr. Jacqueline Moline, a scientist who wrote an influential paper on the link between asbestos contaminated talc and cancer. J&J accused Moline of fraud and libel, among other things, but the judge found the lawsuit presented no evidence to prove its case.

At the beginning of July, The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer re-classified talc from a "possible carcinogen" to a "probable carcinogen," the second highest level for certainty that a substance causes cancer. Scientists reached their decision in part from limited evidence that talc increases risk of ovarian cancer.

Johnson & Johnson proposed a $505 million settlement with bankrupt talc miners Imerys Talc America and Cyprus Mines Corporation. in mid-July, the settlement addresses long-standing disputes and indemnification agreements related to talc liabilities as Imerys and Cyprus have historically been co-defendants in lawsuits against J&J for its talc-based products.

J&J officially reached an agreement with 42 states and the District of Columbia to settle deceptive talc marketing claims for $700 million. Each state in the settlement will receive between $3 million and $78 million. The agreement would not affect individual lawsuits in the ongoing MDL.

On June 4, An Oregon jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay Kyung Lee $260 million. Lee, a 48-year-old woman, claimed that her mesothelioma was caused by her lifelong use of the company's baby powder tainted with asbestos.

A new NIH study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology linked talcum powder use to ovarian cancer, potentially bolstering lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson. Experts said the findings could bolster plaintiffs’ claims, affecting the proposed $6.48 billion settlement and altering the course of litigation.

J&J offered ovarian cancer plaintiffs a $6.48 billion settlement over 25 years, facilitated through the bankruptcy of subsidiary LTL Management. This third attempt at a settlement would require three-quarters of the plaintiffs claiming ovarian cancer injuries to agree to the offer within 90 days.

An Illinois trial ended in victory for the family of Theresa Garcia, a woman who died of mesothelioma allegedly linked to her use of J&J's talcum-based baby powder. The jury ordered J&J and its Kenvue division to pay the family $45 million in damages.

A Florida trial involving plaintiff Bob Sugarman who sued J&J on behalf of his deceased wife Marilyn Seskin ended in a mistrial on March 5 when the jury was unable to reach an agreement. Seskin was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer allegedly caused by Johnson's Baby Powder, according to the plaintiff.

The judge in the talcum powder MDL set various deadlines for depositions and Daubert motions through September 2024. Attorneys think the next trial will be at the end of 2024 at the earliest.

J&J tentatively agreed to a $700 million settlement with over 40 U.S. states regarding its talcum powder marketing. While the settlement doesn't directly affect individual talcum powder lawsuits, it could avert future case filings claiming that the company knew of a link between its talc powder products and cancer.

Several bellwether trials were scheduled in 2024 and 2025. J&J's LTL Management subsidiary was denied bankruptcy proceedings twice and expected to file a third time to push its $9 billion settlement through. In the meantime, cases had been quietly settling for confidential amounts.

According to a regulatory filing, LTL Management refiled for bankruptcy protection in a New Jersey court. Under a proposed agreement, J&J would pay about $8.9 billion over 25 years to current and future plaintiffs to settle talcum powder lawsuits.

The U.S. Court of Appeals declined LTL Management’s request to stay a bankruptcy ruling while the company sought a U.S. Supreme Court review.

In Philadelphia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit dismissed LTL Management’s bankruptcy status. The ruling temporarily prevented J&J from exploiting bankruptcy law to resolve the multibillion-dollar talc powder lawsuits it faces.

Plaintiffs' attorneys in J&J talc baby powder lawsuits presented their arguments against LTL Management’s bankruptcy in court.

J&J created the subsidiary LTL Management, which assumed the company’s then-$4.5 billion potential liabilities from talcum powder lawsuits. LTL Management filed for “Texas two-step bankruptcy” soon after.

In a landmark ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court declined J&J’s request to overturn a $2.1 billion Missouri court award to 22 women with ovarian cancer.