Imerys Talc Units File Bankruptcy as Cancer-Suit Risk Soars
- Legal costs of 14,000 claims are swamping J&J’s talc supplier
- Judge will oversee effort to use trust to settle talc suits
This article is for subscribers only.
Imerys Talc America Inc., which supplies talc for products including Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder, filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to end nearly a decade’s worth of lawsuits claiming its product causes cancer.
The unit of Paris-based Imerys SA and two other subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware Wednesday, citing the more than 14,000 claims the company faces in U.S. courts. Most have been brought by women alleging Imerys’s talc caused their ovarian cancer. Others say they have mesothelioma, brought on by asbestos in the talc.