Johnson & Johnson Announces a Proposed Resolution of Ovarian Talc Litigation
Follows Favorable Multi-District Litigation Court Causation Ruling and the Company’s Successful Strategy to Defend Each Case
Efficient Conclusion to the Talc Litigation that Eliminates Expense Associated with Litigating Remaining Roughly 76,000 Ovarian Talc Claims
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (the "Company") today announced that it has reached an agreement for a comprehensive resolution of the remaining talc litigation with the plaintiff firms leading the federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) and related state court proceedings, conditioned on, among other things, the express participation of at least 95% of the remaining claims. The proposed resolution follows a favorable ruling by the MDL court, and acknowledgment by plaintiffs’ counsel, regarding plaintiffs’ inability to prove that the Company’s talc products caused any particular claimant’s ovarian cancer (“specific causation”).
“After decades of litigation and full vetting of the science in an extensive hearing, plaintiffs effectively conceded their inability to prove specific causation by withdrawing their experts on the topic in two bellwether cases. In a watershed moment, the Court thereafter ordered plaintiffs to show why the remaining claims should not be dismissed, confirming what we have maintained for years: that these claims lack scientific merit and were sustained only by unreliable expert opinions that could not survive rigorous judicial review," said Erik Haas, Worldwide Vice President of Litigation, Johnson & Johnson. "The Court’s order placed plaintiffs in an untenable position of having to present specific causation evidence to maintain their claims that does not exist. While we are confident the Company would have ultimately prevailed with further litigation, as it has in the vast majority of cases tried to date, this resolution allows the Company to put this matter behind it and remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives."
