Johnson & Johnson, through subsidiary LTL Management LLC, is the latest major U.S. company to attempt to use bankruptcy to put a halt to trials on personal-injury claims in the civil justice system. The healthcare giant filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy after the Supreme Court declined to review a $2.1 billion judgment for 20 women who alleged talc-based baby powder caused their ovarian cancer. Federal appeals judge Thomas Ambro, an influential former bankruptcy practitioner, sits on the panel that will determine whether chapter 11 bankruptcy can be used in this way.

“Judge Ambro is one of the most respected authorities on bankruptcy law in the country,” Ralph Brubaker, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, said. “An Ambro opinion on an issue of bankruptcy law is always anxiously anticipated, thoughtfully and persuasively reasoned, widely read, and influential.”

Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal.