Wells Fargo, Tesla, Johnson & Johnson, and Boeing Receive ‘Unique Event Treatment’ in JUST’s 2025 Rankings

JUST Capital’s annual Rankings of America’s Most JUST Companies assess corporate  performance of the Russell 1000 against the priorities that matter most to the American public. Throughout the year, we monitor any unique events that are not captured by our current metrics and should theoretically impact a company’s overall score and rank. We identify those events as instances which result from a company’s actions or inactions and satisfy the following criteria: (1) considered material to just business behavior as defined by the American public, (2) have the potential to affect a company’s standing outside the normal architecture of our ranking process, and (3) are sudden, extreme, or unusual in nature.

This year, the four companies which received a unique event treatment are: Wells Fargo, Tesla, Johnson & Johnson, and Boeing.

The process of determining a unique event involves monitoring media coverage of companies through an independent feed with minimized bias, as well as consultation with the public, independent specialists, and other neutral third parties.

The details of each event, and how a company has or hasn’t responded to it, will determine the type of treatment given to the company’s overall Ranking performance. These treatments, in order of increasing severity, are Serious (I), Severe (II), and Most Severe (III). Each step of the process, including the final results, are reviewed by independent specialists and other neutral third parties.

This year, JUST Capital is applying the unique event treatments only to the Most Severe (III) category. Each event should fall into one of five stakeholders, with each company receiving the lowest score corresponding to that stakeholder that the event pertains to.

 We identified 41 companies throughout the monitoring process, which were cross referenced along geographical and legal considerations amongst the full Russell 1000. From that, we evaluated 18 events which satisfied JUST’s criteria for a unique event. We narrowed down to a further four incidents and the related companies which received the Most Severe (III) category qualified for a unique event treatment. Further details on the monitoring process and evaluation criteria can be found in our 2025 Rankings Methodology.

The four cases which JUST evaluated as Most Severe (III) are as follows:

The first recurring unique event case applies to Wells Fargo, a financial services company that provides retail, commercial, and corporate banking services through branches, the internet, and other channels to individuals, businesses, and institutions across the U.S. and in other countries. Given the evidence of its history of labor and banking violations, such as creating fake accounts and retaliation against its employees who speak up about labor conditions, continued lack of meaningful remediation efforts, and more recently the controversies regarding unionization efforts, JUST Capital has given Wells Fargo the lowest score for the Shareholder Stakeholder.

The second recurring unique event case applies to Tesla. Tesla designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles and energy storage systems and also installs, operates, and maintains solar and energy storage products. One of its products, the autopilot vehicles, has resulted in hundreds of crashes and several fatalities. Since last year, there has been at least one additional fatality attributed to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology. In response to these events, Tesla’s communication regarding the safety of its products has also been misleading to its customers, and has doubled down on this technology with the unveiling of its new robotaxi, Cybercab, despite significant safety concerns from experts and regulators. For these events, we have given Tesla the lowest score for the Customers Stakeholder.

The third recurring unique event case applies to Johnson & Johnson, which makes a range of health and well-being products in three business segments: consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices. Johnson & Johnson continues to attempt to use bankruptcy filings to avoid paying the estimated $9 billion settlement to tens of thousands of people affected by the contamination of its talc products. Due to the continuation of these financial maneuvers, Johnson & Johnson has received the lowest score for the Customers Stakeholder.

Since our initial unique event treatment, there have been no substantial changes in business practices by any of the above companies that would result in the removal of this treatment. Barring any significant changes in business practices specifically related to these events, this treatment will remain in effect for a maximum of three years. If another event or development occurs after the three-year period, the event can be evaluated and, in appropriate cases, treatment can be reinstated.

The fourth and final unique event treatment was applied to Boeing, which is an aerospace and defense corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells commercial airplanes, defense systems, and space technology to customers worldwide. On January 5, 2024, a fuselage plug door blew off mid-flight, the latest in several safety-related incidents that have plagued the manufacturer in recent years. Several whistleblowers have come forward alleging a culture that promotes production speed and efficiency over product safety. As a result of these events, Boeing has received the lowest score for the Customer Stakeholder.