NEW YORK, May 1(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ )

said on Wednesday it is moving forward with a $6.48 billion

proposed settlement of tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging

that its baby powder and other talc products contain asbestos

and cause ovarian cancer.

The deal would allow it to resolve the lawsuits through a

third bankruptcy filing of a subsidiary company.

It will begin a three month voting period in hopes of

reaching consensus on a settlement of all current and future

ovarian cancer claims. Those claims account for 99% of the

talc-related lawsuits filed against J&J, including about 54,000

lawsuits that are centralized in a New Jersey federal court

proceeding.

Courts have rebuffed J&J's two previous efforts to resolve

the lawsuits through the bankruptcy of the subsidiary created to

absorb the company's talc liability, LTL Management.

J&J, which says its products do not contain asbestos and do

not cause cancer, said that its settlement is supported by

attorneys representing the majority of plaintiffs who have filed

cancer lawsuits against the company.

Erik Haas, J&J's worldwide vice president of litigation,

said gathering votes before a bankruptcy filing would allow the

new plan would succeed where J&J's past efforts faltered.

"The claimants get to vote, and that's the major difference

here," Haas said in a Wednesday call with investors.

J&J said it is confident that the deal will reach a 75%

support threshold needed for a bankruptcy settlement that would

end the litigation entirely, shutting off future lawsuits and

preventing people from opting out of the deal to pursue their

separate claims.

Attorneys representing cancer victims seemed divided on the

proposal on Wednesday.

"I believe J&J's proposed plan announced today will bring

peace and closure to our clients and the thousands of women who

have fought by our side in the quest for justice," said Jim

Onder, who represents about 21,000 talc claimants and who

supported J&J's previous bankruptcy proposal.

Other lawyers said J&J is trying to "stuff the ballot box"

by getting votes from lawyers who have not sued J&J or whose

clients have types of cancers that do no have a strong

scientific link to talc.

Mike Papantonio, an attorney opposed to the deal, said J&J

has been "covertly soliciting law firms to accept their deal,

promising a swift payday for some opportunistic lawyers."

The proposed deal would build on J&J's settlements with

about 95% of people who have sued the company after developing

mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer linked to asbestos exposure,

as well as its settlements with U.S. states, which have alleged

that the company failed to warn consumers about the dangers of

its talc products.

$11 BILLION IN RESERVES

J&J said it set aside a total reserve of $11 billion to

account for all of its talc settlements, including the proposed

ovarian cancer settlement, mesothelioma claims, states' claims,

and settlements with two bankrupt companies that supplied talc

used in J&J's products. J&J recorded an incremental charge of

$2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024, added to its previous

reserve for talc litigation.

In its second bankruptcy filing, LTL put forward an $8.9

billion deal that would have dealt with all talc-related claims

at once.

After that deal was rejected, Haas said it was more

practical to settle mesothelioma claims outside of bankruptcy

before addressing much larger group of 85,000 to 100,000 ovarian

cancer claims. Haas said J&J faced hundreds of mesothelioma

lawsuits, and it has settled all but 153 lawsuits.

The previous bankruptcy filings put the talc litigation on

hold from 2021 to 2023, but trials have resumed after a federal

judge ruled the latest bankruptcy case should be dismissed in

July 2023.

In March, J&J received a new chance to contest the

scientific evidence linking talc to ovarian cancer in the

centralized litigation in New Jersey federal court. The judge

overseeing the cases said that recent changes in the law and new

scientific evidence require a fresh review, and he asked J&J to

present new arguments on the science by late July.

J&J said it will continue to defend itself against the

lawsuits while trying to gather votes on the settlement. The

company said it has prevailed in 95% of ovarian cases tried to

date, including every ovarian case tried over the last six

years.

The litigation has resulted in some large verdicts for

plaintiffs, including a $2.12 billion award in favor of 22 women

who blamed their ovarian cancer on asbestos in J&J talc. In the

past month, J&J was recently ordered to pay $45 million in a

mesothelioma case while winning an ovarian cancer case.