Johnson & Johnson did not wrongly manipulate bankruptcy rules when it filed an insolvency case in Texas and not its home state of New Jersey, a federal judge ruled, increasing the odds the consumer health giant can settle claims its baby powder gave women cancer.

Judge Christopher Lopez said Thursday he’ll keep a J&J subsidiary in his Houston courtroom, dismissing claims the company improperly skirted a federal appeals court for New Jersey that has twice stopped its bid to end thousands of talc injury lawsuits.

“I want to assure everyone that they are going to get a fair trial in front of me,” Lopez said.

J&J is offering more than $8 billion to settle the litigation, a proposal the company has said is supported by roughly 83% of the women who voted on it. The settlement is being offered through a corporate shell J&J created to absorb the cancer claims and file bankruptcy, a controversial legal tactic known as the Texas Two Step.

J&J has said its talc-based products are safe and lawsuits against the company lack merit. The company has said J&J’s new talc subsidiary, Red River Talc LLC, is incorporated in Texas, which is where its assets are located and where women who voted in support of the plan selected as the appropriate legal forum.

J&J’s talc unit “has the right to choose the venue that is the most favorable,” Red River lawyer Greg Gordon said during Thursday’s hearing.

“Today’s decision is another step closer to full and final resolution of the talc litigation for the benefit of all stakeholders,” J&J Worldwide Vice President of Litigation Erik Haas said following the ruling.

The U.S. Justice Department argued J&J’s maneuvers “are an assault on the very integrity of the bankruptcy system” and said the case should return to New Jersey, where the company is headquartered and the first two bankruptcies were thrown out.

J&J created a corporate shell to absorb the cancer claims and file for bankruptcy, only to have the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals throw the cases out. The appeals court court said bankruptcies weren’t warranted because the units ultimately had the backing of its deep-pocketed parent.

Gordon acknowledged that the company intentionally avoided filing in New Jersey in order to avoid the Third Circuit. But they did that for a legitimate reason, Gordon said. The company’s bankruptcy settlement is overwhelmingly supported by claimants, Gordon said, citing a vote of alleged victims held before the latest insolvency case was filed.

When claimants voted they knew that the case would be in Texas, Gordon said.

The bankruptcy case is Red River Talc LLC, 24-90505, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston).

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