Texas Two-Step

Faced with numerous potential liabilities from talc related claims, Johnson & Johnson performed a Texas Two-Step. Using a Texas law, J&J split its business into two companies. One company holding all the talc related assets and liabilities, and the other company with the other assets and liabilities. Having done so, the talc related company then filed bankruptcy.

Thus, J&J followed in the steps of three asbestos businesses and may have successfully cabined off those liabilities from the rest of its business. For reference, it appears that talc related product sales were 0.5% of J&J total 2020 consumer health product sales.

Image from Daniel Case on Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0 license