Appellate Victory for Investors at the Third Circuit

Updated October 8, 2025: This article was originally published on August 5, 2025. It has been updated to include the Third Circuit denying the petition for en banc rehearing.

Representing San Diego County Employees Retirement Association, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP secured two recent victories for a class of investors in a securities action against Johnson & Johnson when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the trial court’s order certifying the case as a class action and subsequently denied the defendants’ petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc.

“We are pleased with the court’s decision and look forward to presenting this case to a jury,” said Robert R. Henssler, Jr., lead counsel for the investor class.

The Allegations Against Johnson & Johnson

The case arises out of allegations that Johnson & Johnson made false and misleading statements assuring investors that its products were safe and asbestos-free. In 2018, a jury ordered the company to pay $4.69 billion to 22 plaintiffs who said that asbestos in the company’s talc caused them to develop cancer. That same year, a Reuters investigation cited internal company documents in reporting that “Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder.” These and multiple other disclosures between 2017 and 2018 revealing the truth caused losses to investors.

San Diego County Employees Retirement Association was appointed by the court to serve as lead plaintiff in 2018. The trial court denied Johnson & Johnson’s motion to dismiss the case in 2019 and certified the case as a class action in December 2023.

Robbins Geller attorneys Darren Robbins, Robert R. Henssler, Jr., Tor Gronborg, Nathan R. Lindell, Hillary B. Stakem, Laura M. Andracchio, Matthew J. Balotta, and Joseph J. Tull represent lead plaintiff San Diego County Employees Retirement Association and the investor class in the ongoing litigation. Partner Joseph D. Daley argued the case before the Third Circuit. Daley and Of Counsel Harini P. Raghupathi represented the lead plaintiff and the investor class before the Third Circuit.

San Diego County Employees Retirement Association v. Johnson & Johnson, 2025 WL 2176586 (3d Cir. July 30, 2025).