Category: US

Johnson & Johnson’s strategy to use bankruptcy to resolve the multibillion-dollar litigation over claims its talc products cause cancer was rejected by a federal appeals court on Monday, but the healthcare conglomerate said it would challenge the ruling.

The decision by the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia removed from bankruptcy the company’s LTL Management unit, which was facing more than 38,000 legal claims tied to products such as its Johnson’s baby powder.

J&J

(JNJ) shares were down about 3% in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

J&J, which maintains and reiterated on Monday that its talc products are safe, created and spun off LTL and assigned its talc liabilities to the unit and placed it in bankruptcy in 2021.

J&J had argued that bankruptcy provided a way to resolve tens of thousands of legal claims more efficiently and fairly than taking the cases to trial individually. The company pledged a funding “backstop” to ensure LTL could pay talc claimants.

The appeals court said it dismissed the LTL Chapter 11 petition because the unit was created solely to access the bankruptcy system.

“Applied here, while LTL faces substantial future talc liability, its funding backstop plainly mitigates any financial distress foreseen on its petition date,” said the 56-page opinion by the three-judge panel.

J&J said it will challenge the Third Circuit’s ruling and continue to seek a resolution of the lawsuits in bankruptcy court.

“As we have said from the beginning of this process, resolving this matter as quickly and efficiently as possible is in the best interests of claimants and all stakeholders,” J&J spokeswoman Allison Fennell said. “We continue to stand behind the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder, which is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”

J&J used a restructuring strategy known as the “Texas two-step” that was criticized by lawmakers and academics who argued the maneuver could provide a blueprint for other big companies to avoid juries in mass tort lawsuits.

Before the bankruptcy filing, J&J faced costs from $3.5 billion in verdicts and settlements, including one in which 22 women were awarded a judgment of more than $2 billion, according to bankruptcy court records.

But more than 1,500 talc lawsuits have been dismissed without J&J having to pay anything, and the majority of cases that have gone to trial have resulted in defense verdicts, mistrials or judgments for the company on appeal, according to LTL’s court filings.

The appeals court was urged to dismiss the bankruptcy petition by plaintiffs suing over the talc products. They argued one of the world’s largest healthcare companies should not be using bankruptcy to protect itself from lawsuits.

The cancer victims asked the appeals court to overrule a New Jersey bankruptcy judge who had allowed LTL’s bankruptcy to continue. LTL’s bankruptcy filing automatically stopped lawsuits from proceeding against it, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey ruled in February that LTL’s bankruptcy should also stop talc lawsuits from proceeding against parent company J&J.

Kaplan said the bankruptcy court is better equipped to handle mass tort litigation than other courts.

CNN
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Six people died and three others were injured in a crash involving an express bus and a freight truck in upstate New York Saturday morning, according to authorities.

New York State Police responded to a collision between the bus and the Freightliner box truck around 6 a.m. ET on State Highway 37 in Louisville, a town near the US-Canada border, according to a press release from the agency.

The crash left one person in critical condition and seriously injured two people who were on the express bus, state police said. Victims were transported to several hospitals, according to the release.

There were 16 people on board the vehicles, 15 in the express bus and one in the truck, according to Matthew Denner, director of Emergency Services for St. Lawrence County.

“The facts about the cause of this accident are unknown at this time,” spokesperson Randolph P. Ryerson for Penske, the rental company for the truck involved, told CNN in a statement.

“We do not yet have specific information about the rental vehicle involved or information about who was driving the rental vehicle at the time of the incident,” Ryerson added.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced it is launching a six member team to conduct a safety investigation into the fatal collision.

Mayor Mike Zagrobelny of Waddington, a town near the scene of the accident, thanked first responders from around the county who assisted in a post on Facebook Saturday.

CNN
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Michael B. Jordan is giving full insurance coverage a whole new meaning.

The actor portrayed an interloping version of State Farm’s popular spokesperson, Jake, in a hilarious sketch during his “Saturday Night Live” hosting debut on January 28.

In what began as an all too familiar State Farm commercial, the sketch featured Heidi Gardner and Mikey Day as a mother and father in need of help filing an insurance claim after their daughter clogged the toilet with stuffed animals.

Jordan then showed up as Jake from State Farm and, much to Day’s plight, never left.

A thriller-esque montage depicted Jordan further ingratiating himself into Day’s family, with things at home unraveling when Jordan caught Day as he looked up rates at insurance competitor Geico. Amid a fight with Gardner, Jordan later taunted Day by saying menacingly, “Save even more when you bundle home and auto.”

In the end, a distressed Day was saved by the Liberty Insurance mascots – the LiMu Emu and Doug, played by Andrew Dismukes – while the catchy “Liberty Liberty Liberty” jingle closed out the sketch.

First-time “SNL” host Jordan also confirmed his relationship status after he mentioned going through his “very first public breakup” in his opening monologue, which featured various “SNL” cast members taking the stage to hit on the actor.

Jordan was seemingly referring to his relationship with Lori Harvey – the pair went public as a couple in January 2021 and reportedly broke up in June 2022.

The “Creed III” actor-director joked that while most people after a breakup try to “get in better shape,” he was already in “‘Creed’ shape” so he decided to learn a new language instead.

Jordan then said, “Estoy en Raya,” a reference to a popular dating app – thereby confirming that yes, indeed, Michael B. single.

CNN
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Two years ago, Moscow eyed a US-German standoff over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as a litmus test of transatlantic power.

Russia had invested heavily in the 750-mile undersea pipeline linking it to Germany and wanted to increase global sales and ramp up economic leverage over Europe and its power-hungry heavy industries. Germany, a leading consumer, was on board from the get-go. Washington was not.

The United States didn’t want the new, high-capacity subsea supply to supplant old overland lines that transited Ukraine, providing vital revenue to the increasingly Westward-leaning leadership in Kyiv.

Russia reasoned that if Washington blocked Nord Stream 2, which it ultimately did, then it would show that European power no longer flowed through Berlin, but actually via the White House.

Fast-forward two years, and reading that transatlantic dynamic post-Angela Merkel, and particularly post-Russian President Vladimir Putin’s failing invasion of Ukraine, has become one of the most pressing political questions vexing the Kremlin.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s refusal, in his words, “to be pushed” to go it alone in sending tanks to Ukraine – instead standing his ground and demanding US President Joe Biden join him in the venture, risking Putin’s wrath – has shown the transatlantic power dynamic has shifted.

Europe has been slow to respond to the deep fissures in US politics and the uncertainty another Trumpian-style presidency could wreak on its allies. Decades of a reasonably unshakable reliance, if not complete trust, in the US, has been replaced by stubborn European pragmatism – and Germany leads the way.

Former Chancellor Merkel was Europe’s moral compass. Scholz has found unexpected metal in his ponderous, often stop/go/wait traffic-light governing coalition and won thunderous applause in Germany’s Bundestag on Wednesday as he flashed a rare moment of steely leadership.

At their summit in March last year, NATO leaders agreed to equip, arm and train Ukraine to NATO standards. It wouldn’t be a member, but the message to Moscow was unequivocal: In the coming years, Ukraine would look and fight like it was in NATO.

Ukraine’s ongoing metamorphosis from legacy Soviet force to NATO clone hasn’t just been about the mechanics or even diplomacy of getting tanks, fighting vehicles, air defenses and artillery, it’s been about bringing NATO member states’ near-billion people along with their politicians. Scholz made that point in parliament on Wednesday.

“Trust us,” he said, “we won’t put you in danger.” He spelled out how his government had already handled Russia’s aggression and how fears of a freezing winter and economic collapse were not realized. “The government dealt with the crisis,” he said, adding: “We are in a much better position.”

The applause at each step of his carefully crafted speech spoke as loudly as his words. In short, Scholz got it right for Germany, bringing with him a population typically averse to war and projecting their own power, and deeply divided over how much they should aid Ukraine in killing Russians and potentially angering the Kremlin.

But if in Europe Scholz seems to have wrestled some vestige of influence over America in the Ukraine war, in Moscow they don’t believe his new vigor changes much.

Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, says that in Moscow, “most people believe Biden calls the shots.”

Indeed, rather than Germany having more leverage, he says, “the American leadership looks stronger than ever.”

Nevertheless, Russia’s diplomats have been shoveling their animus toward the West into the public arena on both sides of the Atlantic.

Russia’s ambassador to Germany said Berlin’s move to send tanks was “extremely dangerous” and accused Scholz of refusing “to acknowledge its [Germany’s] historic accountability to our people for the horrific crimes of Nazism.” Meanwhile his counterpart in Washington accused the White House of “blatant provocation” and Biden of being intent on the “strategic defeat” of Russia.

Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and deputy chairman of its national security council, has said Russia would never allow itself to be defeated and would use nuclear weapons if threatened.

Oddly, closer to the Kremlin, statements are less bellicose, signaling that Putin is perhaps cooling to nuclear escalation.

Responding to Biden and Scholz’s decision on tanks, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said it adds “tension to the continent, but it cannot prevent Russia from reaching our goals.”

The mixed messaging has some Muscovites CNN spoke with after the announcements by Biden and Scholz on tanks confused. Some said Russia would win regardless, and lumped the US and Germany together as the losers, but a significant proportion were worried about the war, dismayed at the heavy death toll and frustrated that Putin ignored their concerns.

How much Scholz is aware of Putin’s softening popularity or whether he believes it relevant at this moment is unclear, but his actions now, sending tanks, may help ease Putin’s iron grip on power.

From being late to recognize Russia’s threat, reorient Germany, reinvigorate its military, and ramp up weapon supplies to Ukraine, the pragmatist Scholz has now signaled Germany is very much in play – and, indeed, wants hands on the controls. He said Germany would “coordinate” supplies of the Leopard 2 from allies to Ukraine, a power invested in him by German legislation preventing any purchaser of the country’s war-fighting hardware to pass it on to a third state.

With Scholz shouldering his way to the diplomatic helm, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may find his territorial ambitions to restore the entirety of Ukraine’s sovereignty including Crimea, before peace talks with Putin, constrained. The German chancellor has been at the forefront of friendly leaders wanting a speedy end to the war and the restoration of economic stability to Europe.

Longer debates about the next military moves for Ukraine could be coming and will likely signal to Zelensky that weapons supplies will be on more of a German leash, and less unilaterally led by Washington.

This shift in the power dynamic may not change the way the war is fought but could impact the contours of a final deal and shape a lasting peace when it comes.

CNN
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The San Antonio Zoo is offering a special Valentine’s Day greeting for exes who just won’t bug off.

For $10, the zoo will name a cockroach after your not-so-special someone and feed it to an animal – a cold, but direct message that you’re no longer interested.

The annual “Cry Me a Cockroach” fundraiser will “support the zoo’s vision of securing a future for wildlife in Texas and around the world.” the San Antonio Zoo says on its website.

Those not into bugs can choose a vegetable for $5 or a rodent for $25 instead.

All donors will receive a digital Valentine’s Day Card showing their support for the zoo. They can also opt to send their ex-boo a digital Valentine’s Day Card informing them that a cockroach, rodent, or veggie was named after them and fed to an animal.

Those with an especially stubborn ex can pay for a $150 upgrade, which includes a personalized video message to the recipient showing their cockroach, rodent or vegetable being devoured by an animal.

The annual event is a hit, Cyle Perez, the zoo’s director of public relations, told CNN. Last year, they received more than 8,000 donations from all 50 states and over 30 different countries.

“Right now, we are on track to break last years record, with ‘Zach,’ ‘Ray’ and ‘Adam’ being the most submitted ex-names so far,” Perez said.

To participate, you’ll need to submit your exes name online before Valentine’s Day.