© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Bottles of Johnson & Johnson child powder line a drugstore shelf in New York October 15, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Picture
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal decide mentioned Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) shareholders might pursue as a category motion their lawsuit accusing the corporate of fraudulently of concealing how its talc merchandise had been contaminated by cancer-causing asbestos.
U.S. District Decide Zahid Quraishi in Trenton, New Jersey, on Friday allowed shareholders from Feb. 22, 2013 to Dec. 13, 2018 to pursue their securities fraud claims as a gaggle.
He rejected J&J’s argument that any class interval be not less than a yr shorter as a result of some occasions that allegedly triggered its inventory worth to fall contained no “new” data.
J&J’s talc merchandise have included its signature child powder. The corporate stopped promoting talc-based child powder globally this yr, switching to corn starch as the primary ingredient. It has mentioned its talc merchandise are protected and don’t comprise asbestos.
Neither J&J nor its attorneys instantly responded to requests for remark. Attorneys for shareholders together with the lead plaintiff San Diego County Workers Retirement Affiliation didn’t instantly reply to related requests.
Class actions make it simpler for shareholders to get better extra money, at decrease price, than in the event that they sued individually. An extended class interval might improve the quantity recovered.
Shareholders mentioned J&J’s inventory worth fell six instances in late 2017 and 2018 following occasions that confirmed how the New Brunswick (NYSE:), New Jersey-based firm and varied executives hid the reality about asbestos in its talc merchandise.
These occasions included a jury awarding $4.69 billion in July 2018 to 22 girls who mentioned asbestos triggered them to develop ovarian most cancers, and a Reuters report 5 months later that mentioned J&J knew concerning the asbestos dangers for many years.
J&J mentioned the six occasions couldn’t have harm its inventory worth as a result of none contained new data that “corrected” its earlier disclosures.
It mentioned the one new data from the decision was that jurors accepted the ladies’s arguments, and that every one 56 inside paperwork talked about within the Reuters report had been already public.
Quraishi was unpersuaded. Addressing the Reuters report, he mentioned its “cautious evaluation” and offering of “crucial context” made it greater than a rehash of “stale data.”
The share worth fell 10% the day the report was launched.
J&J additionally faces mass tort litigation encompassing greater than 50,000 lawsuits over its talc merchandise.
Courts have rejected two efforts by the corporate to make use of the chapter course of to restrict its publicity to talc litigation.
The case is Corridor v Johnson & Johnson et al, U.S. District Court docket, District of New Jersey, No. 18-01833.
