Bloomberg first reported that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan denied Johnson & Johnson's bid to block a lawsuit accusing the company of hiding evidence that its industrial talc operations exposed workers to asbestos.
Decades back, J&J owned the talc mine Windsor Minerals, which produced the material used in baby powder and other products, Bloomberg said. The company sold off Windsor Minerals in the late 1980s.
JNJ currently faces more than 40,000 claims that the talc in baby powder causes cancer.
Related: Johnson & Johnson To Defend Baby-Powder Lawsuits In Court: Report.
The proposed lawsuit comes from the family of a man who originally sued J&J back in 1986. According to court documents summarized by Bloomberg, the Windsor worker dropped his case after J&J produced sworn testimony claiming tests never showed J&J's industrial talc contained asbestos. The man died in 1994.
The news outlet said that citing new evidence to support claims that the company's testimony was false, his family plans to sue J&J.
Bloomberg added that lawyers for the family allege that the false information from J&J derailed thousands of asbestos exposure lawsuits against the company.
"We stand by the safety of the talc sold by Windsor Minerals, which was once a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary," J&J's spokesperson added. J&J said it would fight the pending lawsuit.
Price Action: JNJ shares are down 0.07% at $180.53 during the market session on the last check Thursday.
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