Vanderbilt Minerals Files Bankruptcy Over Talc Lawsuits
Legislation & Litigation
Written by Travis Rodgers | Edited by Amy Edel
Vanderbilt Minerals LLC is blaming mounting legal costs from more than 1,400 talc lawsuits for its decision to file for bankruptcy protection. According to the court documents filed in the Northern District of New York, the Norwalk, Connecticut-based mining company faces an estimated $117.2 million in total legal costs. And $8 million was reportedly spent on talc-related litigation last year alone.
Chief Restructuring Officer Dean Vomero stated in Vanderbilt’s bankruptcy filing the company “was cash-flow positive absent the growing costs of the talc-related litigation.” As part of its restructuring plan, Vanderbilt intends to auction its assets, with Commodore Materials placing an opening bid of $50 million.
These talc lawsuits allege that the talc Vanderbilt once mined and sold was contaminated with asbestos. The plaintiffs connect their exposure to Vanderbilt’s asbestos-contaminated talc to their diagnoses of asbestos-related diseases. Asbestos is the primary cause of mesothelioma and also causes asbestos lung cancer and ovarian cancer.
The company denies its talc was contaminated, but stopped mining it in 2008. It now focuses on producing clay for pharmaceutical, agricultural, personal-care and construction.
Recent Vanderbilt Legal Defeats
Vanderbilt’s bankruptcy comes after a series of costly legal defeats, including a $15 million verdict awarded to the family of Nicholas Barone in 2024. A Connecticut jury found Vanderbilt responsible for Barone’s mesothelioma diagnosis and death.
Barone was exposed to Vanderbilt’s talc while working as a process engineer at a General Electric plant between 1965 and 1967. GE had purchased hundreds of thousands of pounds of talc from International Talc. Vanderbilt had acquired International Talc in 1974. GE used the talc in molding compounds during the time Barone worked there.
The jury reached its verdict in just 2 hours, finding Vanderbilt showed “reckless indifference to others” through efforts to suppress knowledge about asbestos contamination of its talc. The Barone case proved particularly damaging because it established Vanderbilt’s liability as the successor to International Talc Co.
This verdict followed another significant loss in March 2023. A jury awarded $20 million to the widow of a Rhode Island man who developed mesothelioma after exposure to Vanderbilt’s talc products.
Broader Industry Trend of Bankruptcy Filings
Vanderbilt isn’t alone in facing mesothelioma lawsuits over asbestos-contaminated talc. And it isn’t alone in pursuing bankruptcy protection as a way to manage legal expenses.
For example, Johnson & Johnson created a subsidiary, which then absorbed all of the company’s talc liabilities and attempted to declare bankruptcy. The aim was to resolve tens of thousands of claims alleging its talc-based baby powder caused ovarian cancer.
J&J’s bankruptcy attempts have failed multiple times in court, leaving it to continue defending itself in court. While the pharmaceutical giant continues to deny its talc was asbestos-contaminated, it’s faced significant verdicts against it.
The Missouri Court of Appeals in 2020 upheld a landmark jury verdict in favor of 22 women who developed ovarian cancer. While the court reduced the historic verdict from $4.69 billion to $2.1 billion, upholding the jury’s findings set a critical precedent.
Law firms representing people diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases have successfully shown companies were aware that because talc and asbestos minerals form near each other in the earth, talc can easily become contaminated during mining. Industrial talc has contained asbestos levels as high as 50% to 70%, and cosmetic talc products dating to the 1960s reached contamination levels of up to 30%.
Not every case has resulted in compensation for those exposed. However, the trend of juries holding companies responsible for asbestos-contaminated products and a failure to warn consumers has given survivors hope. And this may lead more companies to follow Vanderbilt in pursuing bankruptcy.
