Sept 20 (Reuters) - A Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) subsidiary filed

for bankruptcy for a third time on Friday as the healthcare

giant seeks to advance an approximately $10 billion proposed

settlement that would end tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging

that the company's baby powder and other talc products caused

cancer.

J&J faces lawsuits from more than 62,000 claimants who

alleged that its baby powder and other talc products were

contaminated with asbestos and caused ovarian and other cancers.

To stop those lawsuits, J&J subsidiary Red River Talc filed for

bankruptcy protection in Houston bankruptcy court.

The company has denied the allegations and has called its

products safe.

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

said on Friday that the settlement was "fair and equitable to

all parties" and that 83% of current talc claimants had voted

for it.

After being rebuffed twice by federal courts, New Brunswick

New Jersey-based J&J is attempting again to end the litigation

in a so-called "Texas two-step" bankruptcy.

The "two-step" maneuver involves offloading its talc

liability onto a newly created subsidiary that then declares

Chapter 11, a type of bankruptcy that involves a reorganization

of assets and debts under court supervision. The goal is to use

the proceeding to force all plaintiffs into one settlement,

without requiring J&J itself to file for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy judges can enforce global settlements that

permanently halt all related lawsuits and forbid new ones.

Outside of bankruptcy, any settlement J&J reached with some

claimants would still leave holdouts or future plaintiffs with

the right to sue - and leave the company exposed to potential

multibillion-dollar verdicts that encouraged it to use a

two-step in the first place.

To improve its chances in a third bankruptcy effort, J&J

asked plaintiffs to vote on its proposed deal ahead of time to

ensure that it has enough support for its plan to succeed. J&J

needed more than 75% to back the plan for a bankruptcy judge to

impose the deal on all plaintiffs.

J&J's third attempt at a bankruptcy settlement also differs

from its previous efforts in part because it focuses only on

ovarian and other gynecological cancer claims, building on J&J's

previous settlements with state attorneys general and people who

had sued after developing mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer

linked to asbestos exposure.

J&J's proposed settlement would pay talc claimants about $10

billion over 25 years. The present value of the settlement is

roughly $8 billion after J&J recently agreed to kick in an

additional $1.1 billion to the settlement fund and pay $650

million in legal fees to attorneys that had previously opposed

the settlement offer.

The company has been engaged in a bitter fight with lawyers

opposing its third attempt to settle the litigation through this

maneuver.

Its bankruptcy strategy still faces legal hurdles. These

include a June U.S. Supreme Court decision involving Purdue

Pharma's bankruptcy, court orders dismissing its previous

efforts and proposed federal legislation aimed at preventing

financially healthy companies like J&J from benefiting from

bankruptcy protection.