Articles by Mike Spector

Judge Halts Most Talc Lawsuits Against J&J, Stops Trials

A U.S. judge on Thursday halted most of the tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder and other talc products caused cancer and stopped any trials as part of a company subsidiary’s second attempt to settle …

J&J Talc Unit 2nd Bankruptcy Must Be Dismissed, Cancer Victims’ Lawyers Say

Johnson & Johnson’s renewed effort to resolve talc lawsuits through an $8.9 billion bankruptcy settlement must be dismissed as a “fraudulent scheme” that defies a court order rejecting the company’s previous attempt to settle the litigation, according to a court …

J&J Unit Files for Second Bankruptcy to Pursue $8.9B Talc Settlement

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $8.9 billion to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that talc in its iconic Baby Powder and other products caused cancer, the company said. The amount dwarfs J&J’s original offer of $2 …

J&J Talc Unit Faces Bankruptcy Judge After Tactic Rejected

Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary shouldering talc-related lawsuits goes before a bankruptcy judge on Tuesday for the first time since a U.S. appeals court last month nixed the company’s attempt to offload the litigation into Chapter 11 proceedings. A three-judge panel …

U.S. Court Rejects J&J Bankruptcy Strategy for Thousands of Talc Lawsuits

A U.S. appeals court on Monday shot down Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to offload tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products into bankruptcy court. The ruling marked the first major repudiation of an emerging legal strategy with the …

Koch Industries Gets $2.5B in Dividends From Unit That Offloaded Asbestos Liability

Industrial conglomerate Koch Industries received nearly $2.5 billion in dividend payments last year from its Georgia-Pacific unit, which had spun off a subsidiary that took on its liability from asbestos litigation and then filed bankruptcy to limit lawsuit payouts, according …

Boy Scouts, Catholic Dioceses Find Haven From Sex Abuse Suits in Bankruptcy

Lawmakers around the United States have tried to grant justice to victims of decades-old incidents of child sexual abuse by giving them extra time to file lawsuits. Now some of the defendants in these cases, including church and youth organizations, …

Special Report: Corporate Chiefs Dodge Lawsuits Over Sexual Abuse, Deadly Products

Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction landed him in prison. Allegations of serial sexual abuse cost him his career and his movie studio. His company went bankrupt and later settled legal claims by about 50 women. But one group of …

Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Self-Driving Claims

Tesla Inc. is under criminal investigation in the United States over claims that the company’s electric vehicles can drive themselves, three people familiar with the matter said. The U.S. Department of Justice launched the previously undisclosed probe last year following …

How a Bankruptcy ‘Innovation’ Halted Thousands of Lawsuits from Sick Plaintiffs

Attorney Greg Gordon sat before a packed hotel ballroom of bankruptcy lawyers who had come to hear him hold court on his pioneering strategy for companies seeking to dodge billion-dollar lawsuits: the “Texas two-step.” The tactic has made the Jones …