In a letter filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey,
attorneys for J&J and LTL Management LLC, a bankrupt subsidiary that
the company set up to hold its talc liabilities, claimed that
lawyers for two committees representing plaintiffs shared at least
two confidential documents with the news organization.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs' committees engaged in a "calculated
effort" to "try this case in the press rather than in the court,"
LTL attorney Gregory Gordon said in a court hearing shortly after
the letter was filed.
"Counsel for the committees, apparently, are feeding documents to
the press. And we're specifically aware it's being done with
Reuters," Gordon said.
The J&J lawyers said the documents it said were leaked were subject
to a protective order issued by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael
Kaplan.
The letter asks Reuters to return the documents it said were leaked
and to refrain from disclosing any confidential information they
contain. J&J's lawyers said that if Reuters declined, they would
consider petitioning the court to compel the news organization to do
so.
A Reuters spokesperson called the claims without merit.
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"We reject the factually-unfounded and legally-meritless claims made
by J&J's lawyers and will continue to report without fear or favor
on matters of public interest," the spokesperson said in a statement
on Thursday.
At the hearing, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs' committees
objected to what he called "improper accusations." The lawyer, David
Molton, said "Mr. Gordon should know better." A spokesperson for one
of the committees did not have an immediate comment.
The LTL unit filed for bankruptcy in October to resolve around
38,000 claims alleging J&J's talc-based products contained asbestos
and caused mesothelioma and ovarian cancer.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/04/images/ads/current/heartland_lda_NOV2021.png) J&J maintains that its consumer
talc products are safe and have been confirmed
to be asbestos-free. The company has said it
placed LTL into bankruptcy to settle those
claims rather than litigating them individually.
It has said resolving these claims through
Chapter 11 is a legitimate use of the
restructuring process.
The talc committees argue that J&J should not be
permitted to use bankruptcy to address the talc
litigation and that by doing so, it is depriving
plaintiffs their day in court.
Kaplan is set to hear arguments on the
committees' motion to dismiss the LTL bankruptcy
on Feb. 14.
Also at Thursday's hearing, Kaplan granted a
request by groups of law professors to file
so-called "friend of the court" briefs in
support of the motion to dismiss. One of the
groups of professors said using a bankrupt unit
to get rid of talc liabilities when it is in
strong financial health itself is a "direct
attack on the fundamental integrity of Chapter
11."
A 2018 Reuters investigation found J&J knew for
decades that asbestos, a known carcinogen,
lurked in its Baby Powder and other cosmetic
talc products. The company stopped selling Baby
Powder in the United States and Canada in May
2020, in part due to what it called
"misinformation" and "unfounded allegations"
about the talc-based product.
(Reporting by Maria Chutchian, Editing by Amy
Stevens and Rosalba O'Brien)
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