Lawyers for Johnson & Johnson’s Ovarian Cancer Victims React to SCOTUS Decision in Purdue
27 Junho 2024 - 7:46PM
Business Wire
Beasley Allen: ‘We believe this decision
should spell doom for J&J’s third bankruptcy plan’
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a $7 billion Purdue
Pharmaceuticals bankruptcy plan which would have given the Sackler
family, which founded the company, immunity from additional
liability for their irresponsible actions in promoting the deadly
use of opioids to the public and physicians.
The Sackler family had agreed to provide up to $6 billion in
funding in exchange for immunity from further legal action while
protecting billions in other assets. But the court ruled 5-4 that
bankruptcy law does not permit that kind of protection.
The decision has significant implications for ongoing efforts by
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to seek bankruptcy protection in
an effort to resolve tens of thousands of ovarian cancer claims
tied to the use of the company’s talc-based products, including the
Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower brands.
In response, the following is a statement from Leigh O’Dell of
the Beasley Allen Law Firm and Co-Chair of the Plaintiffs’ Steering
Committee in the Talc/Ovarian Cancer MDL in New Jersey Federal
Court.
“We believe this decision should spell doom for J&J’s third
bankruptcy plan. Today’s ruling affirms that financially solvent
entities, or individuals, cannot use the bankruptcy courts as a
shield to escape liability for marketing and manufacturing
dangerous products.
“The parallels of this case with J&J’s continued and
unsuccessful attempts to use the bankruptcy laws to mirror the
fraud perpetrated by the Sackler family cannot be denied. Even with
an overwhelming majority of creditors approving the Sacklers’
indemnification scheme, the principles of fundamental fairness --
that it is the debtor who may receive the benefits of bankruptcy
not other wrongdoers (such as the Sacklers or J&J) -- have been
upheld.
“We hope that this decision provides clarity to the controversy
that resulted in rampant forum shopping by companies and
inconsistent administration of the code by the courts. We also hope
that this decision will derail any attempt by J&J to return the
talc litigation to the bankruptcy courts, and we can continue to
move forward with trials that support the constitutional rights of
our clients and resolutions that consider the true financial and
emotional toll suffered by thousands of J&J’s victims.
“J&J’s response to today’s Supreme Court ruling in the
Sackler case reveals a half-trillion-dollar company still desperate
to use bankruptcy as a shield to protect itself from the tens of
thousands of women who have cancer only because they used Johnson’s
Baby Powder or Shower to Shower. It won’t work.
“Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, J&J
continues to mislead juries and members of the public by claiming
talc-based baby powder doesn’t contain asbestos. Yet, at the same
time, J&J seeks the shelter of a bankruptcy escape hatch that
Congress designed exclusively for asbestos-containing products.
They can’t have it both ways. It’s time for J&J to abandon its
hysterical, bullying, and untruthful rhetoric and act as a
responsible corporation.”
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240627982671/en/
Mike Androvett 800-559-4534 mike@androvett.com
Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
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