More than a decade after taking on Johnson & Johnson with the first trial linking baby powder to ovarian cancer, attorney Allen Smith has signed off on a proposed bankruptcy plan after negotiating for an additional $1 billion.
Smith, of the Smith Law Firm in Ridgeland, Mississippi, said he would recommend the plan to his 12,000 talc clients. Despite opposing Johnson & Johnson’s prior bankruptcies, both of which were dismissed, Smith said he negotiated adding another $500,000 to an initial $6.48 billion for current talc claimants. And Johnson & Johnson also increased the plan’s total value, when including future talc claimants, to $9.1 billion from $8 billion, Smith said.