On direct appeal, the Third Circuit on Jan. 30 reversed the bankruptcy court and directed the dismissal of the petition that had been filed by LTL Management LLC, the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson created to file in chapter 11 to deal with talc and asbestos claims arising from the sale of Johnson’s Baby Powder. Although Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro pointedly declined to rule on whether LTL improperly used chapter 11 as a “litigation tactic,” what are the legal steps J&J can take to settle roughly 40,000 cancer lawsuits concerning its talc-based products?
