A New Jersey bankruptcy judge has decided to postpone a ruling on whether Johnson & Johnson can benefit from the litigation pause for its bankrupt talc spinoff, granting a two-week delay following a request from tort claimants. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan stated that since the spinoff, LTL Management, wouldn’t be adversely affected by a further two-week delay, he approved the request by the two talc claimants committees to postpone the hearing on the stay.
LTL Management was established as a separate entity to manage Johnson & Johnson’s talc liabilities, which encompass over 38,000 personal injury claims. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in North Carolina in October, prompting criticism from cancer patients who accuse J&J of attempting to divert their claims away from juries and into the bankruptcy claims process.
After a hearing in November, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge J. Craig Whitley refrained from deciding on the matter, citing uncertainty regarding the proper venue for the case. He implemented a temporary restraining order preventing lawsuits against LTL but not against Johnson & Johnson. Subsequently, Judge Whitley transferred the case to New Jersey.
The hearing on the stay, initially scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed for two weeks at the request of counsel for the two talc claimants committees. They argued that the motion should be heard after New Jersey District Court Judge Freda Wolfson ruled on a motion to transfer the claims against LTL into her court.
Additionally, the committees advocated for a two-day evidentiary hearing, contending that there hadn’t been sufficient time for discovery before the initial hearing in North Carolina, and both committees did not exist at the time of that hearing.
Gregory Gordon, representing LTL, accused the committees of seeking a “do-over” due to dissatisfaction with the previous hearing’s outcome. He argued that any delay should be for a specified date with no further extensions.
Judge Kaplan agreed to postpone the hearing to either January 21 or 24, allowing the committees to present limited new testimony but prohibiting a complete reevaluation of witness testimony already heard in North Carolina.
