The TCC’s Bankruptcy professional David Molton and Talc Plaintiff Committee Member Representative Dan Lapinsky provided updates on the Motion to Dismiss Trial held from June 27 through June 30, 2023, and upcoming hearings and proceedings. TCC Member Sue Sommer-Kresse also shared her personal story and described her commitment to raising awareness about Ovarian cancer and helping victims reclaim their power after being diagnosed with the disease.

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Hi everyone.

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On behalf of the Official Committee of Talc Claimants, or more simply

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the TCC, welcome to another one of

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our Town Hall events. Today’s Town Hall is scheduled to last around 30 minutes. Our goal for this session is to share critical updates following the highly anticipated

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motion to dismiss trial that concluded just under two weeks ago, Friday, June 30.

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During today’s Town Hall, we will introduce you to Sue Sommer-kresse, who is one of our TCC committee members. Then we’ll go over updates coming out of the Motion to Dismiss trial before we dive into some of your most frequently asked questions. If you have any questions as the Town Hall goes on, we encourage you to submit them by email to [email protected] that’s questions @ ltltalcommittee.org or use the Zoom QA question & answer feature.

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We also encourage you to check out our web page which we update regularly. And that web page address again, for those of you who don’t have it, is ltltalcommittee.org that’s LTL Talc committee.org. The speakers today are myself, I’m David Moulton, as you know, from Brown Rudnick.

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And I am one of the CoCouncil representing the TCC.

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And we have Melanie Siganowski, my CoCouncil from Otterberg. Also on with us today. Additionally, we have Dan Lapinski with us today from the law firm of Motley Rice, who represents our TCC member who will be speaking with you today. Sue Sommer-kresse. For those of you who may be joining for the first time, the Talc Claimants Committee is comprised of eleven members. Ten of those members are either suffering from ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, or they have family members who suffered and died from those diseases. The other members of the committee alongside Sue, who’s with us today, are Brandy Carl, Patricia Cook, Randy Derion, Christy Doyle as the representative of Dan Doyle, April Fair, William Henry as the estate representative of Deborah Henry, Alicia Landrum, Rebecca Love, Tanya Wetzel as the estate representative of Brandon Wetzel and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. The TCC is the official committee appointed by the Office of the US trustee, a division of the United States Department of justice under the Bankruptcy Code and is the fiduciary which represents all Talc claimants under the Bankruptcy Code. The committee has a duty to communicate with its creditors, with the creditors of the estate and claimants in the LTL management bankruptcy case.

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And part of what we’re doing here today is fulfilling that duty and obligation. Lastly, let me remind you that we are not your lawyers and we are not here to give you legal advice. We understand that many of you have counsel, and for those who identified your. Counsel when you signed up for this.

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Town Hall, we reached out to invite your counsel to attend. Also be advised that this is not a solicitation for or against the debtors proposed plan which was filed.

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And yesterday we received more filings in connection with that plan. At some point possibly going forward, if this case isn’t dismissed, there may be an opportunity to speak to you more about the TCC’s position regarding the debtors proposed plan. But today is not the time. This town hall is being recorded and will be posted on our committee’s webpage.

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Now, turning to the important part of this webinar, I’d like to introduce you to Sue. Take it away, Sue.

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Thank you to everyone who’s joining us today for the town hall. My name is Sue Sommer-kresse and I live in Charleston, South Carolina with my husband John. We have twins and we have now four grandchildren, ages one through six. My career for almost 50 years was as an administrator and professor in colleges and universities. I’m now retired and spent a

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good deal of my time with organizations to educate the public about ovarian cancer. My journey with ovarian cancer began in 2009. I found a lump behind my belly button and it was diagnosed as an umbilical hernia. I went to surgery for what I thought was a routine umbilical hernia repair. And I will never forget when the surgeon came to pat me on my shoulder to say, stage C three peritoneal ovary cancer, I did not know anything about this disease. I did not know the symptoms, and I was in total shock. The announcement was followed by the debulking process, removing everything you can live without and the insertion of an intraperitoneal port for chemotherapy. After six rounds, I was declared cancer free and no evidence of disease. I’m a prime example of a late stage diagnosis with several recurrences. We know that the majority of ovarian cancer diagnoses are at a late stage when even after treatment, 70% of survivors experience the recurrence. I had none of the risk factors affiliated with this disease, no family history of ovarian cancer. I didn’t have any of the genetic markers, did not smoke, was not overweight. In fact, I thought I was super healthy.

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As a survivor, I was very aware of the grim statistics about recurrences, and I reviewed the symptoms every day. In 2012, approximately two and a half years after my first diagnosis, my CA 125 numbers elevated. Something was wrong. Ovarian cancer had spread to the liver because of the location of the lesion. The recommended treatment was CyberKnife radiation. I was zapped from 57 different angles for several days, and this was followed by chemotherapy treatments. Again, I was so fortunate to be declared cancer free. No evidence of Disease I thought I had licked ovarian cancer, but I was wrong. In 2016, my CA 125 again elevated. This time, a tumor was found in the lower abdomen. And again, surgery and chemotherapy followed. Ovarian cancer is a chronic disease for me. I’m so grateful to have had three reports of no evidence of disease. I’m so grateful to be here. I’ve been cancer free now since 2016, but I’m never free of ovarian cancer. Since my first diagnosis and treatment, I’ve been passionate about doing whatever I can to prevent even one more woman from having to have an experience like mine. My teal sisters who are listening out there know exactly what I mean.

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Here in Charleston in 2010, we started a group called Women with Wings. The purpose was to educate and create awareness about this disease, to support survivors and their families and to encourage research to hopefully find an early detection test and, of course, hopefully a cure. The group is now affiliated with the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation. The low country chapter. We have many projects and services. However, I’m very proud of our Bags of Hope project. The goal is to provide every woman in South Carolina newly diagnosed with ovarian cancer with a bag of items that we know she can use during treatment. The bag is distributed through cancer centers and gynecological oncologists offices, and it contains items such as a warm blanket, socks, hats that she can wear when she loses her hair, and most importantly, information for services that are available. Including an invitation to our lunch bunch, which meets once a month and provides an opportunity for survivors to meet each other, share information and know that they are not alone. Also, I am the area facilitator for survivors teaching students, which is a national program sponsored by the Ovarian cancer research alliance.

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This program is in over 350 colleges and universities where we speak to medical and nursing students who will soon be a part of our health community. We want them to know about this disease. We want them to know how it affects their patients, her family and the community. My work with these mission-driven organizations has afforded me a tremendous opportunity to support countless women like me who have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer while also raising awareness. These organizations do not engage in or endorse legal action. So my involvement in the TCC is independent from my work with the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. I’m honored to be a member of the TCC. My involvement is part of my personal commitment to fight back. I’m a new member of this committee, and I’m not an attorney. The bankruptcy laws, Texas two step, the litigation guidelines are new, and sometimes it seems that the real purpose of these efforts get lost in the process. Individuals have suffered, many have died because they used a product that was produced and sold as safe. J and J has made billions of dollars. Joining this committee is another way I can further my personal commitments to educating people about this disease.

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My work with the other groups focus on local and state projects. However, being part of this committee elevates my activities to a national level. More importantly, it’s an opportunity for me and every woman like me to reclaim the power this disease has taken from us. I’m pleased to serve on the Committee because it’s important to hold J and J accountable. It’s important to continue to focus on ovarian cancer and mesothelioma and to increase funding for research. It’s important to find a test for early detection. It’s important to find a cure. And I’m very grateful for the opportunity to serve. Thank you very much for listening to my story this morning. We have had an amazing team of attorneys working on our behalf who have represented us in the recent trial seeking to dismiss the bankruptcy. We will learn more about that case this morning, so I’m going to turn it back to David.

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Thank you, sue, and thank you for your meaningful words that you’ve shared with the hundreds of people that are with us today. Now I’d like to take a few minutes to share with you some of the latest updates in the case coming out of our Motion to Dismiss hearing, which happened at the end of last month. From June 27 through June 30, the bankruptcy court conducted a trial on the TCC’s motion to Dismiss LTL Management’s second bankruptcy filing. The TCC was joined by several other groups and several understates it. We had about, I think it was, eight or nine separate motions to dismiss by various movements in front of the judge. Those groups included the Office of the United States Trustee, which again is a department or division of the United States Department of Justice, numerous States Attorney General and other plaintiff groups, all of whom want this bankruptcy case dismissed so that you can pursue your rights in front of juries of your peers and return to the tort system. We believe the Motion to Dismiss trial last that concluded a week and a half ago went well and included factual testimony from LTL and J and J’s executive executives and from certain members of the ad hoc committee of supporting law firms, as well as expert testimony from financial and legal professionals. We expect a decision from Judge Kaplan about whether to dismiss the case by August 2. Indeed, His Honor Kaplan has told us that he will likely have a ruling by then. If this case is dismissed, we can expect J. and J. To appeal up to the Third Circuit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. However, if that happens, we are optimistic that the circuit will side with the TCC as they previously did when we had the first bankruptcy case dismissed by that very same Third Circuit in January of this year. If the case is not dismissed by Judge Kaplan, LTL will then go forward and present its proposed plan. As we had anticipated, the Debtor filed their first amended plan on Monday, June 26, with several notable changes that Dan and Sue will discuss. The TCC has also, as you may recall, for those of you who have been with us before, filed a motion seeking authority to file its own plan, a creditor plan, a plan on behalf of the tort claimants.

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The court will have a hearing on this motion on August 2. If the case is not dismissed, August 2 will also, I understand, have other matters on it that no doubt we will discuss in future town halls before the August 2 meeting is held or hearing is held. I will now turn the digital baton back over to Sue and Dan Lapinski to further discuss the status of the case and walk through some frequently asked questions. Sue, Dan.

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Thank you, Dan from Motley Rice Law Firm for joining us today to answer some questions. The first one is, you mentioned the Debtor filed a new plan. What are the major changes from this plan compared to the first? Is this plan the final proposal from the Debtor?

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Sue, thank you very much, and thank you for taking the time today to share your personal story. We appreciate it. To respond to your question, as David had noted, at the end of the month, the Debtor submitted its first amended plan to the court. And I know that there were additional filings last night that we haven’t had an opportunity to really look through and digest. We’re continuing to evaluate the amended plan, but there are some changes that we believe should be noted. The new plan no longer includes a dollar range for the value of each point, which was previously an amount that was expected to range from fifty cents to two dollars. We believe that the removal of the dollar value creates more ambiguity around the plan that’s being proposed. The debtors previous plan also outlined some reductions in points that were based upon a variety of factors. Pursuant to the first amended plan that was filed by the Debtor on June 26, the points assigned to each claim will now be evaluated by an independent claims administrator to determine the compensation for each claim. Again, we believe this creates more ambiguity around the plan.

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Additionally, approximately $750,000,000 was removed from the Talc Personal Injury Fund. The $750,000,000 has now been allocated to an insurance trust fund to reimburse insurers and other third party payers. At this time, we’re unable to determine the insurers that would be paid from that trust fund and whether that trust fund would resolve all potential claims that could be asserted by an insurer. We think that the Debtor may revise the plan as it moves further, so it’s likely that this isn’t their final plan. And as has been mentioned before, the TCC has filed for the right to draft its own proposal.

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Thank you, Dan. And the next question is, if this case is dismissed, what will happen to individual claimants like me?

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Sure if this case is dismissed, first and foremost, the bankruptcy is over. Victims claims will return to the tort system, including the federal multi-district litigation, and to the state courts where various claims have been filed. There, J and J will have to defend against the currently pending and future filed lawsuits. It’s important that you stay in touch with your own lawyer to understand the status of your claim if the bankruptcy case is dismissed, so that you’re aware of the next steps needed in order to continue to prosecute your case.

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Let’s look at the other side. If the case is not dismissed, what are the next steps for the victims in that case?

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Sure sue, our number one priority is to dismiss this case in its entirety. The TCC believes this case was filed in bad faith. We maintain that LTL management is not, and never was in financial distress. As David had mentioned, there’s a hearing that’s scheduled for August 2. We expect that at that hearing, or perhaps a few days before, judge Kaplan will deliver his decision on the motion to dismiss. We’ll have more details about the path forward at that time. If the case is not dismissed at present, the TCC plans to file an appeal. If all appeals become exhausted, the next step would be for the court to evaluate the proposed plans for reorganization, including the currently amended LTL plan and possibly a plan that’s offered by the Tort Claimants Committee.

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Thank you. There are so many things happening right now. What should I be doing as a claimant at this time?

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So I think the most important thing for you and for everybody to do is to stay informed about the case, including joining these town hall sessions in order to get periodic updates. We encourage people to check the TCC website routinely as updates are made to that website as things continue to progress. For those people who want to listen into court hearings, you can visit the website and there are links on the website that will enable you to listen into the hearings when it becomes appropriate and necessary to comment on LTL’s plan, the TCC will provide information for everybody. But of course, most important thing is always speak with your own attorney and always stay informed on the status of your case and stay in touch with your own attorney.

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Thank you.

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Well, thank you, Sue especially. And thank you, Dan. Thank you all for the many hundreds of people who have participated today in our session. We said we’d try to keep you at 30 minutes, and I think we’re going to do that. Of course, we’d like to thank you all, especially, as I just said, for joining this town hall. We appreciate the time you’ve taken, and we’ll be announcing our next town hall soon. As we look ahead to the coming days and weeks there are several near term milestones that are approaching quickly. As everybody said, a bunch of people said today, by August 2, we will have a decision from Judge Kaplan on the motion to dismiss. If the case is not dismissed, the TCC will seek to appeal that decision. But there will also be a hearing on August 2 to determine whether the TCC will have authority to file its own plan on behalf of Talc claimants and whether the TCC will have standing to pursue various causes of action lawsuit claims against J and J. If the case is not dismissed on August 22, among other things, the judge will evaluate the status of the preliminary injunction, meaning the order that prevents you claimants from pursuing your suits against non debtors such as J and J itself.

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We will continue to keep the committee website updated frequently, and we’ll be sure to flag upcoming town halls and events as we have them. If you have any questions about the case between now and then, please do not hesitate to contact, of course, your own lawyer or submit questions to the email address on our website, or you can do both. Again, if you want to submit questions, the website address is [email protected] that’s ltl talc committee.org. We will endeavor to promptly respond to all your questions as I think we’ve done to date. Again, our website is www.ltltalccommittee.org. That’s www. ltl talc committee.org Really, thank you all for joining us on this Midsummer Day, and we really look forward to talking to you shortly when we’ll hopefully have news regarding the motion to dismiss and be able to address issues pertaining to that, as well as to fill you in as to other events that are happening in the case. Again, thank you, everybody for your morning and afternoon. Whatever your time zone. Appreciate it.

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Thanks, David. Thanks, Sue.

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Thank you all.