A unit of Imerys SA agreed to settle claims by 22 women that talc it supplied to Johnson & Johnson for baby powder was tainted with asbestos and caused their cancers.
The Paris-based minerals company’s unit didn’t acknowledge that the talc was tainted or dangerous. The terms of the settlement are closely guarded and won’t be made public. But according to two people familiar with the matter, the accord includes a payment of at least $5 million.
The settlement comes as a trial over the women’s ovarian cancer claims is set to start June 6 in St. Louis, leaving J&J and its consumer-products unit as the only defendants in the case. The deal gets Imerys out of a high-profile case focusing in part on whether it sold its talc knowing it was tainted with asbestos. Imerys says its talc is free of the carcinogen.
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