Johnson & Johnson falls after court rejects bankruptcy plan for talc lawsuits

Shares of Johnson & Johnson have moved lower in late morning trading after the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit court rejected the company’s plan to use a legal strategy to push about 38,000 talc lawsuits into bankruptcy court. In a ruling posted to the court’s site, the circuit judges wrote: "These cases came to be heard on the record before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey and were argued on September 19, 2022. On consideration whereof, it is ordered and adjudged by this Court that the order of the Bankruptcy Court entered March 2, 2022 is reversed and the case is remanded with the instruction to dismiss Appellee’s Chapter 11 petition. The order of the Bankruptcy Court entered March 4, 2022 is vacated as moot." In Monday morning trading following news of the appeals court ruling, shares of Johnson & Johnson are down $4.46, or 3%, to $163.76.