J&J Agrees to Pay at Least $5.5 Billion to Resolve 76,000 Talc-Cancer Claims

For decades, Johnson and Johnson marketed its talc-based baby powder as a safe, gentle product. Beginning in the 2010s, plaintiffs across the country alleged that long-term exposure to talc contaminated with asbestos caused ovarian cancer, and thousands of women filed suit. By the time cases consolidated in the District of New Jersey as MDL No. 2738, more than 76,000 claimants had joined the litigation.

The road to resolution was not straight. J&J twice created a subsidiary, LTL Management, and pushed it into bankruptcy, attempting to channel the talc liability into a restructuring process that would limit payouts and block jury trials. Federal courts rejected both efforts. A third bankruptcy attempt also failed. Meanwhile, individual cases produced a wide range of jury results, and a federal judge overseeing the MDL raised questions about the sufficiency of general causation evidence, strengthening J&J's hand at the negotiating table.

Through all of that, plaintiffs' counsel kept pressing. R. Bryant McCulley of Ashcraft and Gerel served on the three-member Plaintiffs' Negotiation Committee alongside Christopher Seeger of Seeger Weiss and Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik, the core team that met directly with J&J's litigation leadership. Michelle Parfitt, also of Ashcraft and Gerel, served as Co-Lead Counsel on the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee, which oversaw the broader litigation strategy.

On July 27, 2026, the parties announced a global settlement. J&J agreed to pay a minimum of $5.5 billion, with the total uncapped, meaning qualifying claimants would be paid in full regardless of how many ultimately enrolled. The deal covers federal cases in MDL 2738 and related state court proceedings. An initial payment of $3 billion was scheduled for 2027, with remaining amounts to follow in 2028, completing the payout within eighteen months. The settlement requires acceptance by at least 95 percent of eligible claimants to take effect.

J&J, which pulled its talc-based baby powder from US shelves in 2020 and discontinued worldwide sales in 2023, denied that its products caused cancer. The company's litigation head called the deal a way to 'put this matter behind it.' Plaintiffs' counsel described it as providing fair compensation after a decade and a half of hard-fought cases. Law.com (The American Lawyer) reported the settlement on July 27, 2026, citing McCulley by name as one of the three lead negotiators.