The Togut Firm is serving as counsel to Mr. Feinberg who has been appointed as the Court-appointed expert to estimate the value and volume of present and future tort claims against LTL arising out of the sale of talc products by Johnson & Johnson.
The Togut Firm has substantial experience in mass tort cases, including (i) the Endo Pharmaceuticals chapter 11 cases, where the firm currently serves as co-counsel to the debtors with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, (ii) the Cyprus Mines chapter 11 cases, where the firm currently serves as counsel to Roger Frankel, the future claimants’ representative, and (iii) Quigley Company, Inc. (a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc.), where senior partner Albert Togut has served as the future claimants’ representative for the past 15 years.
Appointments by a bankruptcy court of its own estimation expert are extremely rare. The Togut Firm is uniquely qualified to represent Mr. Feinberg due to its having also represented the Court’s estimation expert in Calpine Corporation. The Calpine case was successful and resulted in a consensual confirmation hearing of its Chapter 11 plan.
Mr. Feinberg is one of the nation’s leading experts in mass tort claims and has extensive mediation and alternative dispute resolution experience. He has served as a mediator, arbitrator, claims administrator, and/or court-appointed special master in numerous high-profile cases involving billions of dollars. Mr. Feinberg is currently the court-appointed mediator in the Imerys Talc and Cyprus Mines bankruptcy cases and the Hess/HONX asbestos bankruptcy case. In addition, Mr. Feinberg served as the court-appointed mediator in the successful Purdue and Mallinckrodt bankruptcy cases. In the past, Mr. Feinberg administered numerous high-profile compensation programs including serving as the Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and the Administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility that compensated the victims of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, among others.
LTL Management LLC, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina on October 14, 2021. The chapter 11 case was subsequently transferred to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey where it is pending before Chief Judge Michael Kaplan. The debtor commenced its chapter 11 case to resolve all mass tort claims relating to Johnson & Johnson’s cosmetic talc products, including pending and future claims arising from allegations that Johnson & Johnson’s consumer products such as baby powder, among its other products containing talc, cause mesothelioma and ovarian cancer.
The debtor’s chapter 11 case is being administered under case number 21-30589. For more information, visit https://dm.epiq11.com/case/ltl/info.
