During an early December court hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez determined that all ongoing claims filed against Johnson & Johnson for the talcum powder lawsuit would remain paused until March 2025.
In September 2024, Johnson & Johnson made its third attempt at filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by using its subsidiary company, now named Red River Talc, LLC. This time, J&J tried to sweeten the deal in advance, getting the majority of claimants to accept an $8 billion settlement offer earlier in the year. But in the following month, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss this attempt, calling J&J’s bankruptcy strategy a “textbook example of bad faith.”
Though thousands of cases against J&J won’t be able to proceed until next year, Judge Lopez chose not to pause any of the claims filed against other potentially-liable talcum powder manufacturers, including Gold Bond and Colgate-Palmolive. Because those manufacturers aren’t involved in the current Johnson & Johnson bankruptcy case, those cases can continue to move forward for the foreseeable future.
The future of the talcum powder lawsuit
A trial to determine whether or not Johnson & Johnson can pursue its bankruptcy plan has been scheduled for late January 2025. Until then, all of its ongoing claims will remain frozen.
If J&J’s Chapter 11 filing is dismissed, then remaining talcum powder cases could be allowed to proceed once again by March. If not, then J&J may get to continue with its $8 billion settlement plan, which some lawyers argue is not nearly enough money to adequately compensate the nearly 60,000 women involved in the talcum powder lawsuit.
