NEW YORK - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday formally dismissed the second bankruptcy case of Johnson & Johnson's talc subsidiary, but he rejected cancer victims' call for a six-month ban on future bankruptcy filings by the company.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey, had already ruled that the case should be dismissed, ending J&J's second attempt to use bankruptcy to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging that its talc products sometimes contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma and ovarian cancer.

The judge had previously expressed skepticism about banning J&J subsidiary LTL Management LLC from turning to bankruptcy a third time, saying that he did not have a "crystal ball." J&J has said that its talc-based products do not contain asbestos and do not cause cancer, and it intends to appeal the dismissal of LTL's second bankruptcy.

In a statement Friday, the company welcomed Kaplan's decision on future bankruptcy filings, saying that the ruling was consistent with the judge's previous statements urging the parties to reach a settlement based on "remarkable progress" on the framework for a deal. A company spokesperson did not answer a question about whether LTL planned to file for bankruptcy again.

J&J had proposed an $8.9 billion settlement of all cancer claims, but the settlement was premised on a bankruptcy court order that would have stopped future lawsuits from being filed against the company.

LTL's bankruptcy proceedings had largely paused the 38,000 lawsuits already filed against J&J, although one case was allowed to proceed to a $18.8 million verdict in July.

Andy Birchfield, a lawyer for cancer victims, said he hopes J&J "recognizes the writing on the wall" and does not seek to delay the lawsuits through a third effort at a failed bankruptcy strategy. Cancer victims are eager to take their cases to trial or settle outside of bankruptcy court, Birchfield said.

J&J's first attempt at resolving the litigation through bankruptcy began in 2021, when it offloaded its talc liabilities into the newly created LTL via a corporate division known as a "Texas two-step" and immediately placed LTL into bankruptcy.

LTL's first bankruptcy was dismissed in April after a U.S. appeals court ruled that it was not in sufficient financial distress to be eligible for bankruptcy protection.

LTL's second effort, premised on the proposed $8.9 billion settlement of current and future talc lawsuits, met the same fate after Kaplan ruled that the company was still not in the kind of "immediate" distress required by the appellate court's ruling.

The case is LTL Management, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, No. 23-12825.

For LTL: Greg Gordon of Jones Day; Allison Brown of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

For the committee of talc plaintiffs: David Molton, Michael Winograd, Jeffrey Jonas and Robert Stark of Brown Rudnick; Melanie Cyganowski of Otterbourg; Jonathan Massey of Massey & Gail; among others.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth)