A federal appeals court ruled that Johnson & Johnson cannot use creditor protection for a company founded specifically for this purpose in order to fend off more than 40,000 legal proceedings. The court announced this on Monday. Johnson & Johnson should therefore have to defend itself against the lawsuits again in the future.
Johnson & Johnson has already lost a number of lawsuits, so the group has to pay more than two billion US dollars to a group of plaintiffs. Following this ruling, Johnson & Johnson initiated a new strategy to defend against the lawsuits and spun off the legal cases into a purpose-built non-operative company. Bankruptcy protection was then immediately sought for these in order to block the court proceedings while at the same time attempts were made to negotiate settlements.
Johnson & Johnson shares, which are listed on the NYSE, fell 3.7 percent to $ 162 at the end of trading.
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