Calif. Court Remands Asbestos Talc Case, Rejects J&J’s Efforts to Link Claims to Ongoing Imerys Talc Bankruptcy

LOS ANGELES –– A California federal court has remanded an asbestos talcum powder action that was one of thousands removed by Johnson & Johnson last month in an effort to link the litigation to the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings of Imerys Talc America Inc., concluding that Johnson & Johnson deprived the plaintiffs of their “best chance for an efficient adjudication when it removed” the action weeks before trial was scheduled to begin.

In the May 3 order, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California concluded that “equitable considerations compel the court to return plaintiffs’ case to state court.”