Talcum Powder MDL Lawsuits Get Underway Again, After J&J Bankruptcy Rejected

Court is expected to resume preparations for the first talcum powder lawsuit to go before a jury in the federal MDL.

Following Johnson & Johnson’s ill-fated third attempt to force the settlement of tens of thousands of talcum powder lawsuits through the U.S. bankruptcy system, lawyers involved in the cases have sent a letter to the MDL judge, outlining open issues that need to be resolved to prepare the first cases for trial.

Johnson & Johnson faces about 90,000 Baby Powder lawsuits and Shower-to-Shower lawsuits, each raising similar allegations that the company’s talc-based products were often contaminated with asbestos, causing women to develop ovarian cancer and other injuries after applying the powder to their genitals.

The litigation has been ongoing for more than a decade, with several lengthy delays caused by three separate attempts by Johnson & Johnson to transfer all liability it faces to a new subsidiary, which then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The third talcum powder bankruptcy attempt was rebuffed late last month by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez, who found that a proposed $9 billion settlement program failed to meet the legal requirements necessary to move forward. As a result, active litigation is set to get back underway in the civil court system.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in the complaints brought by former users nationwide, all talcum powder cancer lawsuits filed in federal court have been centralized in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey since 2016.  

While a number of state court talcum powder lawsuits have resulted in massive verdicts, nearly all of the litigation is now pending in the federal MDL (multidistrict litigation), where no individual cases have yet to go to trial.

On April 1, Johnson & Johnson attorneys submitted a letter (PDF) to the court requesting a case management conference now that the bankruptcy filing has been rejected and the pause on the federal litigation has been lifted. 

In a text order issued that same day, Judge Shipp directed the parties to file a joint report this week, indicating that the court will then schedule a case management conference. 

On April 8, the parties submitted a joint status update (PDF), which outlines all of the outstanding issues at the time the bankruptcy stay was issued late last year, only a few months before the first talcum powder MDL bellwether trial was set to begin.

Prior to this latest bankruptcy filing, Judge Shipp had agreed to rehear arguments on whether plaintiffs’ experts’ opinions were scientifically sound enough to go before a jury. Last summer, defendants filed motions to exclude several key expert witnesses, which, if successful, would leave plaintiffs without a way to scientifically prove talcum powder exposure caused their cancer.

“The above noted motions were not administratively terminated by the Court during the stay,” the joint report states. “The parties jointly submit that the resolution of these motions should be the first priority for the orderly and efficient reinstatement of active litigation and the preparation for one or more bellwether trials.”

Talcum Powder Bellwether Trials To Be Scheduled

In September 2024, after the third bankruptcy filing was announced, the Plaintiffs Steering Committee (PSC) noted that the bankruptcy stay prevented the parties from selecting a claim to serve as the first bellwether trial. Now that the stay is expired, defendants have requested that the PSC immediately identify a talcum powder lawsuit to serve that purpose.

The plaintiffs have asked Judge Shipp to allow the consolidation of two cases that have common issues of fact, to be tried together before the same jury, arguing that “consolidation is appropriate in light of the needless delay as a result of Defendants filing yet a third bankruptcy that was dismissed.”

According to the status report, the manufacturer opposes having a multi-plaintiff trial serve as the first bellwether test case. They are also calling for the dismissal of a number of claims with incomplete plaintiff profile forms, renewing a request made last summer. However, plaintiffs are calling for the previous Plaintiff Profile Forms deadline to be vacated due to the stay, requesting that plaintiffs be given until June 30, 2025, to submit the required form now that the litigation is getting back underway. 

The PSC proposes that any plaintiffs that miss that deadline would need to show cause as to why their claims should not be dismissed by July 15, 2025, or have their cases thrown out.

Johnson & Johnson has indicated that it does not intend to appeal the dismissal of this latest bankruptcy filing, and has suggested that it now intends to defend the claims in court.

The company has already resolved 95% of claims alleging talcum powder exposure led to cases of mesothelioma. The remaining cases are primarily gynecological cancer claims, mainly dealing with cases of ovarian cancer. 

Since the litigation emerged, Johnson & Johnson has pledged to remove talc from its Baby Powder products, although the company has denied that use of the talc-based products poses health risks.

In the coming weeks, Judge Shipp is expected to schedule a case management conference with the parties, and reschedule the first federal talcum powder MDL trial, which will be closely watched by the parties to gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.