J&J “Settlement” Is a Scam, and Lawyers Who Accept it Are Barely Lawyers, Says Attorney Mike Papantonio

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced that its subsidiary LTL Management LLC (LTL) has re-filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, prompting statements of outrage from attorneys of plaintiffs who claim the company’s talc-based products caused their ovarian cancer or mesothelioma.

J&J has neatly packaged its latest shady maneuverings as a gift--a reorganization plan that would enable the company to “equitably and efficiently resolve” tens of thousands of talc claims.

But there’s nothing equitable about it, said Mike Papantonio, a senior partner with Levin Papantonio Rafferty law firm, whose attorneys are heavily involved in the national talc multidistrict litigation (In Re: Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MD 2738 (D.N.J.)) 

“There's no settlement here—this is a scam,” Papantonio said. “It's a continuing scam by Johnson and Johnson, which has been lying to American women for 50 years. They’ve lied to the court. They've lied to their shareholders, for which they’re going to be sued in a shareholder derivative case. They've lied to the media, who are eager to buy into the lie. And they've lied to the families of women that they've killed.

“The lie continues.”

Papantonio had equally strong words for most of the lawyers who have given J&J commitments to support the reorganization plan and corresponding compensation on the corporation’s terms, rather than fighting for their clients at trial.

“They’re barely lawyers. They’re just case getters,” Papantonio remarked. “When you represent a client, the client expects you to fight for them—not to cave in and give up on their case purely for greed. But that's what's happening here.”

In order for J&J’s scheme to actualize, the company would have to represent that it could get 75% of talc claimants to participate. “This is never going to happen. It's not even close,” Papantonio said.

The threat of even more delays for compensation for women who have gravely suffered at the hands of this corporation and who face hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs and lost wages could turn heads in this vulnerable population, leading them to consider accepting J&J’s low-ball settlement offers.

However, LPR Attorney Chris Tisi urged claimants and their attorneys to think the matter through more carefully.

“What J&J is presenting as a means to “equitably and efficiently resolve” talc claims is not in claimants’ best interest,” Tisi said. “It amounts to selling these poor women out by trying to give them compensation that doesn’t come even close to compensating them for what they and their families have lost and endured. We vehemently oppose it.”

The average cost to a family of an ovarian cancer victim exceeds $ 500,000. This amount encompasses damages for medical expenses and lost wages and does not even account for pain and suffering and non-economic loss.

"Johnson & Johnson is pushing in this media spin saying that we have reached the settlement that's gonna pay these women $8.9 billion,"  LPR Attorney Cameron Stephenson told Pensacola news station WEAR-TV News in an interview late Tuesday night. Stephenson is another LPR attorney who is heavily involved in the talc multidistrict litigation.

"What they're not telling you is that that's less than $100,000 a case, and it's paid out over 25 years, and any law firm that is signing on to this plan, I'm not going to get into why they're doing it because quite frankly, I can't figure it out myself,” Stephenson said.

“But these are not people in leadership, and it's going to take a heck of a lot more than $9 billion to fairly compensate these women."

MDL 2738 comprises nearly 50,000 individual talcum powder lawsuits from individuals who allegedly developed ovarian cancer or mesothelioma after regular, prolonged use of Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower body powder. The lawsuits claim that Johnson & Johnson deceptively marketed the talc-based products for feminine hygienic use without disclosing talc’s carcinogenic properties.  

Tisi represents hundreds of ovarian cancer victims who for decades used Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder with talc. He is a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the national talc MDL and a member representative of the Official Committee of Talc Claimants. 

Tisi explained that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit  had already rejected, for good reason, Johnson & Johnson’s first attempt to use bankruptcy system to escape responsibility for placing defective products on the market. 

“It was never a good faith bankruptcy. It should never have been filed, and it should have been dismissed,” Tisi said. Fortunately, the Third Circuit saw Johnson & Johnson’s bankruptcy ploy for what it was—which had nothing to do with resolving claims on a ‘fair and equitable basis.

“Then and now, it’s nothing more than a shady litigation tactic, as a result of which thousands of women have gone and could continue to go without compensation,” Tisi said. “They are attempting to hold these victims hostage by threatening a new bankruptcy. 

“It truly is a scam,” Tisi added.

The Levin Papantonio Rafferty law firm has been representing injured people across the globe since 1955. The firm has gained national recognition as one of the most successful personal injury firms in the world and has been featured on CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox, as well as Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazine, Forbes, and National Law Journal.

Levin Papantonio Rafferty attorneys handle lawsuits throughout the country involving prescription drugs, medical devices, medical malpractice, car accidents, and business litigation. Levin Papantonio Rafferty has earned more than $30 billion in jury verdicts and settlements, litigating against some of the largest corporations in the world.

For questions about the firm’s legal practice, call 1 (800) 277-1193.