J&J Gets Suit over Former CEO's Compensation Dismissed

Johnson & Johnson has ducked a shareholder derivative lawsuit alleging that the healthcare giant overpaid former CEO William Weldon, who was due to receive a $143.5 million retirement package when he left in 2012, according to MassDevice.Weldon retired in 2012 after 40 years of service. The J&J board named Alex Gorsky CEO in early 2012.The lawsuit, originally filed in September 2011, alleged in court documents that J&J's board of directors breached their fiduciary duties "by overcompensating Mr. Weldon in light of product recalls and other investigations and lawsuits involving J&J subsidiaries and by making misrepresentations in proxy statements relating to Mr. Weldon's compensation in violation of J&J's credo." But a U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey granted J&J's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the suit, MassDevice reports.