Overview
- The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing arguments on whether to reinstate more than 500 lawsuits that a federal judge dismissed in 2024 for flawed expert testimony.
- Plaintiffs pointed to a September White House press conference where President Donald Trump and top health officials publicly linked Tylenol use in pregnancy to autism.
- In a separate Texas case, State District Judge LeAnn Rafferty denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s bid to temporarily bar Kenvue from marketing Tylenol to pregnant women.
- Judge Rafferty also declined Paxton’s request to block Kenvue’s planned $398 million shareholder dividend due later this month.
- Kenvue and Johnson & Johnson dispute any causal link and cite the weight of science, while Kimberly-Clark’s roughly $40 billion deal to buy Kenvue is slated to proceed under terms that do not permit backing out over these allegations.