Critical Mass by Law.com's Amanda Bronstad: In Talc Bankruptcy, Are Trials On the Table? Bayer Wins Big As Roundup Trials Return
June 15, 2022 at 11:32 AM
6 minute read
Critical Mass
Welcome to Law.com Class Actions: Critical Mass, a weekly briefing for class action and mass tort attorneys. After a bankruptcy judge in the Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson's LTL Management raised concerns about the status of mediation, lawyers pitched two very different plans on what should happen next for talc claimants. Bayer, coming off $2.4 billion in verdicts, has won three Roundup trials in the past year. Find out the lawyers retained by the families of the May 24 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
I'm Amanda Bronstad. Feel free to reach out to me with your input. My email is [email protected], or follow me on Twitter: @abronstadlaw.
Johnson & Johnson's baby powder Talc Bankruptcy Judge Wants To Hear About Trials, Claims Estimation
After months of mediation talks, lawyers for talc claimants and Johnson & Johnson's LTL Management were no closer to a settlement, prompting New Jersey Chief Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan to suggest ways to "move forward." Among them, he said at a hearing last month, was the idea of having a "small segment of cases" go to trial.
Lawyers for ovarian cancer and mesothelioma victims, whose 38,000 cases have been stayed since LTL Management's Oct. 14 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, jumped at the chance. In a June 10 status report, the talc claimants committee suggested ending the preliminary injunction order, which comes up for review on June 30, to allow for some trials. Andy Birchfield (Beasley Allen) told me there could be 150-200 lawsuits under consideration, primarily clients who were dying or whose cases were ready for trial.
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