By Mike Spector

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson plans to announce broad support in the coming days for a $6.48 billion offer to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits accusing the company of cancer-causing baby powder and other talc products, two people familiar with the matter said.

The healthcare giant plans to announce as early as Friday that at least 75 percent of plaintiffs who claim they were sickened by J&J’s talc have voted for a settlement that would stop ongoing and future litigation, the people said.

J&J is preparing for a subsidiary to file for bankruptcy protection as early as next week to force the settlement through, the people said. Approval by 75 percent of creditors is the minimum requirement required by law for a judge to approve J&J’s proposed bankruptcy settlement. The deadline to cast votes was July 26.

The company claims its talc products are safe and non-carcinogenic. J&J’s timeline for announcing plaintiffs’ compensation payments and filing for bankruptcy, which have not been disclosed, remains in flux and could change, one of the people said.

As of earlier this week, Johnson & Johnson was still reviewing plaintiffs’ votes but expects to receive the support needed to submit the proposed settlement to a bankruptcy judge for approval, the person said.

“We cannot comment until the vote is confirmed,” a J&J spokesman told Reuters.

J&J is facing talc lawsuits from more than 62,000 plaintiffs, according to a company statement. But the number rises to 100,000 if you count plaintiffs who have not sued, said Erik Haas, J&J’s global vice president of litigation.

After being rejected twice by federal courts, J&J is now trying again to end the talc lawsuit in a so-called “Texas Two-Step” bankruptcy.

In the two-stage maneuver, liability for talc is shifted to a newly founded subsidiary, which then has to file for bankruptcy. The aim of the procedure is to force all creditors to reach a settlement without J&J itself having to file for bankruptcy.

Some lawyers representing tens of thousands of cancer patients are opposing Johnson & Johnson’s plan to try the lawsuit a third time and are engaged in a bitter legal battle with the company.

J&J’s previous two-stage bankruptcy proceedings in New Jersey, where the company is headquartered, were rejected by courts on the grounds that the subsidiary was unable to meet the “financial difficulty” required for Chapter 11 protection. J&J plans to have its subsidiary file for bankruptcy this time in Texas, where there may be a different opinion on the financial difficulty standard, according to some legal experts.

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J&J’s current plan differs from the previous two in several key ways. The latest settlement offer addresses allegations that talc can cause ovarian cancer and other gynecological cancers, which make up the bulk of the claims J&J faces.

Other lawsuits are barred, including those by plaintiffs who claim that asbestos-containing talc caused their mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that affects a thin layer of tissue that covers many internal organs. J&J claims its talc does not contain asbestos.

The company has settled nearly all of its mesothelioma cases out of court, as well as state lawsuits alleging that J&J misled consumers about the safety of its talc. Those agreements removed obstacles that had helped prevent the company’s previous two-stage bankruptcies.

This time, J&J has also asked for a vote on a settlement agreement before filing for bankruptcy. Previous Chapter 11 proceedings allowed creditors to vote after the bankruptcy filing.

J&J wants to use the Chapter 11 process because it allows bankruptcy judges to enforce global settlements that permanently stop all related lawsuits and prohibit new ones – all for a limited payout.

In the trial courts – not in bankruptcy court – J&J’s clients would still retain the right to sue if they reached a settlement with their clients, potentially exposing the company to the billion-dollar judgments that had prompted it to pursue the two-step strategy in the first place.

J&J has won most of the cases, but losses include a verdict in Missouri for ovarian cancer victims that ultimately cost J&J $2.1 billion.

(Reporting by Mike Spector; Editing by Leigh Jones and Daniel Wallis)