By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson is getting a new vice president in charge of litigation about a month after announcing an agreement to resolve tens of thousands of talc lawsuits for at least $5.5 billion, the company said on Friday.

Erik Haas, who has been J&J’s global vice president of litigation since November 2020, is stepping down at the end of August, a company spokesperson said. Aviva Wein, who has spent most of her 20-year legal career at J&J, will succeed Haas. A J&J spokesperson said that Haas has had a “distinguished career and an impactful tenure” at the company.

“We look forward to continuing our relationship with Erik as one of the Company’s trusted outside counsel, advising on our ongoing litigation, including talc,” J&J said in a statement.

J&J did not say where Haas would be going next. He was a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP before joining the company.

J&J also said Wein is a “proven leader” who understands the company’s business and legal priorities.

“We have every confidence in her leadership and in the continued strength of our litigation organization under her direction,” J&J said in a statement. J&J recently announced a settlement intended to end litigation over allegations that its talc contained asbestos and caused ovarian cancer, which has dogged the company for more than a decade. J&J said the settlement covers about 76,000 claims, including ones consolidated in New Jersey federal court and related cases in state court, that represent nearly all of the remaining talc claims against the company.

J&J previously settled most of the cases alleging that its talc products caused mesothelioma, as well as consumer protection claims pursued by state attorneys general.

J&J says that its talc products are safe and do not contain asbestos. Haas has been heavily involved in the talc litigation, and has frequently criticized plaintiffs’ lawyers bringing the cases based on what he called “junk science.” Haas oversaw threefailedattempts to resolve the talc cases through a subsidiary company’s bankruptcy between 2021 and 2025 before the company returned to litigation, scored some key wins in court and announced the new settlement.