J&J talc powder settlement backed by key attorney: report

An attorney jointly representing around 12,000 claimants in litigation against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) over the safety of its talc powder products reportedly supports the drugmaker’s latest settlement offer.

Adam Smith, who filed the first case against J&J over the products in 2009, is now recommending that his clients agree to the company’s latest settlement offer, which has been upped to around $9B from $8B with a shortened timeline for payments to claimants. Smith had rejected previous proposals to settle the cases through bankruptcy court, according to The Wall Street Journal.

J&J reportedly needs at least 75% of the claimants to vote in favor of the settlement for it to qualify for approval by the bankruptcy court. J&J has been striving to settle the cases through a bankruptcy filing in Texas of the unit which now holds the products.

If most of Smith’s clients back the settlement, J&J would secure at least 90% of the votes needed to qualify for bankruptcy court approval, the Journal added.