Nov 5 (Reuters) - Television advertisements soliciting

claims from people who say they got cancer from talc powder

products dramatically increased in September, the same month

that Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) said it would pay more than $9 billion to

resolve talc claims as part of a proposed bankruptcy settlement,

according to new data.

Data from mass tort advertising tracker X Ante shows

plaintiffs' attorneys spent more than $778,000 to air more than

4,600 TV ads soliciting the claims, the most spent on talc ads

since August 2023, according to X Ante founder Rustin

Silverstein.

September's ad spending, an increase of more than 65% over

the previous month, is still far less than lawyers were spending

on ads in 2023, according to Silverstein. But it could represent

a final push for clients from plaintiffs' attorneys who see the

latest settlement offer as a potential end to the litigation.

Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) is facing lawsuits from more than 62,000

plaintiffs who say they were diagnosed with cancer after using

baby powder and other talc products, according to a company

filing.

That number is as high as 100,000 when counting claimants

who haven't sued, Erik Haas, J&J's global vice president of

litigation, has said.

The company has maintained its talc products are safe and do

not cause cancer.

A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) declined to comment on

the ad spending.

Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) has sought to resolve the claims through

bankruptcy, a proposal that faced stiff opposition from some

plaintiffs' attorneys and has been rebuffed twice by federal

courts.

Some plaintiffs' attorneys support the deal as the best way

to get compensation for their clients, while others argue that

the settlement value is too low and that wealthy companies like

J&J should not be allowed to use the legal system to gain

bankruptcy protections meant for people and companies that

cannot afford to pay their debts.

The jump in advertising came after Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) upped

its proposed settlement in early September to resolve the claims

by an additional $1.1 billion, bringing the potential value of a

settlement to more than $9 billion paid over 25 years.

J&J's latest settlement offer addresses allegations that

talc caused ovarian and other gynecological cancers, which are

the bulk of the claims J&J faces.

On Sept. 20, a Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) subsidiary filed for

bankruptcy for a third time after the company said the majority

of talc claimants had voted in support of another filing. The

goal is to use the proceeding to resolve all current and future

claims over talc.

After September's increase, the TV advertising for talc

claims dropped off steeply in October, according to Silverstein.

Silverstein and his company X Ante track spending in television,

radio and social media advertising of attorneys seeking

claimants for mass torts.