Speaking from the U.S. Senate floor on February 15, Sen. Dick Durbin
condemned Johnson & Johnson’s controversial bankruptcy strategy, which
he labeled “shameful and indefensible”, to limit their massive
legal liability to asbestos talc plaintiffs.
During his speech, he evoked powerful imagery of J&J’s influential
ads, most notably for J&J Baby Powder, that generations associated
with sentiments of parental love, wholesomeness, safety, and health. As
long suspected and later
confirmed, J&J knew that their talc products were contaminated with asbestos
for decades despite their ruthless campaign to deny culpability in the
courtroom.
Before long, huge plaintiff verdicts began to catch-up to J&J. They
subsequently created a new company, LTL Management, LLC to deal with their
talc liabilities for the express purpose of declaring it bankrupt days
later, a tactic known as the
Texas Two-Step.
“What a cynical move for a company to make against cancer-stricken
customer across America,” declared Sen. Durbin. He told the story
of a woman currently battling mesothelioma,
Kimberly Naranjo, who bravely testified before the Senate earlier in the week about being
deprived of having her day in court. Naranjo gave voice to herself, and
all the other victims exposed to J&J’s products whose voices
will be silenced by the Texas Two-Step maneuver.
According to Sen. Durbin, he wrote both the former and current CEOs of
Johnson & Johnson urging them to abandon their bankruptcy plan and
“hold yourself accountable to the people who trusted your product.”
He reports that “Sadly, they ignored me.”
The J&J talc bankruptcy plan has been widely criticized by both legal
experts and plaintiffs’ lawyers as an intentional misuse of the
bankruptcy process. Even Steven Wolens, the legislator who originally
wrote the Texas Two-Step bill back in 1989 said the law never would have
passed had they known “the provisions could be dubiously interpreted
for entities to avoid known liability such as those causing severe and
permanent injury or death.”
In closing, Sen. Durbin expressed, “I hope the courts reject Johnson
& Johnson’s abuse of federal bankruptcy laws. But I also believe
that Congress must act to close this loophole for good. I hope Democrats
and Republicans can work together on a bipartisan basis to stop this bankruptcy
abuse.”
To watch Sen. Durbin’s full video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwDchQWKU40