J&J Is Waiting For You To Die: Their Ghoul Defense

For 11 years, Johnson & Johnson has been playing out what's called the ghoul defense in the legal business. That's where you delay paying people money, that they should be paid for the injury and suffering that you've caused them, and you wait until they die. Mike Papantonio is joined by attorney Andy Birchfield to explain what's happening.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

For 11 years, Johnson & Johnson has been playing out what's called the ghoul defense in the legal business. That's where you delay paying people money, that they should be paid for the injury and suffering that you've caused them, and you wait until they die. Here's why. Because if you wait long enough and they die, the case is worth only about 25% of what it would be when they're alive. And that's what this company's been doing for 11 years, along with some really, really bad things. I've got Andy Birchfield with me today, and Andy is the person that for 11 years, has been fighting these thugs. And I wanted to bring him on and tell you just how ugly this story is. Andy, you've heard me talk about the ghoul defense. You certainly are aware of it. We've seen other companies do it. The asbestos industry, for example, was known for the ghoul defense. That's what they're doing here, isn't it? It's one of the things they're doing.
Absolutely. They've taken the tobacco playbook, war of attrition, just like you described, Pap. But they are trying, J&J is trying to rewrite that last chapter. In the tobacco industry, asbestos industry, they were successful in doing that. This scorched earth war of attrition. They were able to do that for a long time. Then it caught up with them. I mean, the tobacco industry ended up with over a $200 billion settlement.
This is something that, it is kind of thing they teach in MBA school. Now, they may not call it the ghoul defense. But when the MBA student is learning about how do you do these ugly little things, this is one of the things you do. And it wouldn't surprise me that if they, if Johnson & Johnson gets away with this, they'll have a whole course on how to go about doing this. They've already been teaching it. First of all, I think the worst thing about it, and people miss in here, is how bad the economic damages are for somebody along with the fact they're gonna lose their life, just having to fight to stay alive, the economics of that, somebody who has ovarian cancer. Talk about that a little bit.
Pap, that's one of the most egregious aspects of this. J&J, they're filing bankruptcy and they're doing it, they're using it as a weapon. But so many of the families of their victims are having to go into bankruptcy in a legitimate way because of just the enormous medical costs that are involved here. So, on the average.
I've seen the medical cost being as high as a million and a half dollars a year.
Oh, yeah.
That's just to stay alive. That doesn't mean, hey, we're gonna cure you. That's just so mommy and sister, they can stay alive. Isn't that, is that accurate?
Yeah. And so, yes, the medical costs can often exceed a million dollars, even a million and a half, close to $2 million. But one of the things that we have seen, and we've had experts look at, okay, what is the cost? The real cost? And if you have someone that is diagnosed at stage three or stage four, those medical costs typically exceed a million dollars. But if you have someone that's diagnosed later in life in their seventies or eighties, and they are stage one, that can be 30, $40,000. But the weighted average across the entire spectrum. Someone that's diagnosed at early age, at stage four, to someone that's diagnosed late in life at a stage one, the weighted average is over $220,000 just for the medical cost.
Wow. Okay. So here you have lawyers that have bought into the idea of Johnson. They're just, they're pals. They're friends with Johnson & Johnson. They're plaintiff's lawyers who do what we do and they've been made a promise that if you'll go along with this.

[darkforcesify]

The irony Johnson and Johnson says it's a "family company " sickening.

[michaelccopelandsr]

When you fear integrity and accountability, you are NOT the good guys!!!

[UnsortedSeeds]

Lots of bots in the comments out today.


This shit going on with Johnson and Johnson is absolutely shameful, and the ones in charge should be in prison.

[ladyliberty]

This is absolutely disgusting. Resident #45 rolled back MANY EPA standards that hurt us. Problem is, in speaking to some MAGA, keeping those regulations means companies can justify raising prices... these people believe in the lie of 'trickle down' which has proven not to work given that same Resident's lowering their taxes in 2017, which cannot change until 2025! Prices have continued to elevate! J&J is not hurting, and yes, want to 'pretend' they are in when it pertains to a lawsuit of this magnitude. This was done with their knowledge and understanding, that at some point, they would be paying out for their willful knowledge of what WOULD happen. Should've socked away billions for this rainy day!!!

[commonsense.]

Felt that one. My dad was gonna win shy of 1m. He was placed in pay out group c.
10 years later, they were still paying out group a.

So when he died almost 10 years later. My mom got a letter telling her that she would only be receiving 90k, and they waited no time to send the letter .

[vernoncarlson]

My mother passed from that very same diagnosis and she always used j&j baby powder. This affected millions of women.

[johnbillings]

I know someone that has cancer from talcum powder and she has been going through this crap.

[JanellePhalen]

My Mom got ovarian cancer 12 years ago. It was stage 3. Amazingly she has survived and is in remission for the 4th time. About every 3 years it comes back. Knowing your Mom is going to die and all the pain and agony she has gone through, is so stressful on our family. Corporations have way too much power.

[robbieking]

“We’ll put ‘No more tears’ on the label.”
“But it _does_ make you cry.”
“I know.” 😈
🌩️⚡️🏭⚡️🌩️

[davidbentley]

The US justice system is an absolute joke. When you lose you pay. Simple as that. You can appeal but you have to pay first.

[rorleti]

I'm surprised all the terminal victims have let the execs. live.

[kattz]

The fact that baby powder causes cancer has been known for a very long time. I'm closer to 60 than I want to admit. My grade 7 gym teacher talked to us about this when we were all getting our periods. She told us to never sprinkle baby powder on our pads or use it anywhere "down there." They knew that it caused cancers in the reproduction system. That was 45 years ago. Why is this still a thing??? I am in Canada, though. Maybe Heath Canada issued a warning.

[peregrinemccauley]

Why hire a lawyer, when you can buy a Judge?

[stryfespoint]

Meanwhile, some of the ghouls behind this travesty are enjoying golden parachutes, isn't that wonderful of those behind the "family company".

[balmpatchvideos]

I'm going to start a website to join to boycott them!

[lindacompton]

This really scares me as my whole family used this powder every day for all of my growing up years. I used in ll over. I had to have a hysterectomy a few years back.

[political_discourse_news]

They make a mockery of every single judge.

[zerenamafdet]

~These people were also granted the privilege of giving you all those covid vaccines....!

[dannyboy]

Why are there laws that permit corporations to keep doing this to their victims? My wife had ovarian cancer, a 4.5 lbs tumor and gutted out like a fish. She went through chemotherapy, severe pain, lost her job. This was due to J&J's poisoned powder.
This changed everything in our lives. Having to see her go through this nightmare by me and her family was something I hope no one goes through this. She did pass away. One way to hurt the company more is NEVER by a product from them. Let them explain why their shareholders are losing money. We did hire a Attorney Firm before she passed. She knew.😪
Be safe, happy and have beautiful lives. ❤

[Captaintrippz]

I won't blame them for doing the financial wise decision, but I'm more than happy to see them be held accountable.