Lagatar24 Desk
New Jersey, Dec 30: A lawyer for claimants suing Johnson & Johnson over its baby powder wants a bankruptcy judge to order the pharma giant to turn over requested information, claiming that it is impeding investigations.
“There has been what appears to be a concerted effort to obstruct, limit and delay discovery,” in the case, Michael S. Winograd, co-counsel to two official claimants’ committees, wrote in a December 28 letter.
Winograd, a partner at Brown Rudnick wrote, a December 23 response from J&J saying it wouldn’t fulfill the requests “has necessitated a forthcoming motion to compel.”
J&J spun off its talc liabilities into a separate unit, LTL Management LLC, and declared bankruptcy on Oct. 14, adding to the case’s complexity and sparking controversy because it is a profitable company. It is facing 38,000 lawsuits alleging that its talc products caused cancer and has pushed for the establishment of a trust to compensate victims.
A hearing scheduled for Jan. 11 to consider LTL’s proposed appointment of Joseph W. Grier III as legal representative for future talc claimants should be postponed, according to the letter.
“For a number of reasons, including circumstances that have arisen during discovery over the past week, the current schedule has become untenable,” Winograd wrote.
At the very least, he stated, future claims should be postponed until a decision on whether to dismiss the case is made.
The case is LTL Management LLC, 21-30589, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey.
