A New Jersey bankruptcy judge threw out the second chapter 11 case that Johnson & Johnson filed to resolve its mass talc liabilities, again shutting down the healthcare-product company’s plan to achieve an $8.9 billion settlement [see #msg-171617699].
Judge Michael Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, N.J., said that J&J affiliate LTL Management LLC, created to carry the company’s talc-related liabilities into bankruptcy, wasn’t in sufficient financial distress to warrant granting it the legal protections of chapter 11.