A California jury orders Johnson & Johnson to pay $40 million after finding its talc baby powder caused ovarian cancer in two women, ruling the company failed to warn consumers despite decades of knowledge.
Jury Finds Company Failed to Warn Consumers
The ruling comes from a Los Angeles Superior Court jury, where the jury orders Johnson & Johnson to award $18 million to Monica Kent and $22 million to Deborah Schultz and her husband. Jurors determine that Johnson & Johnson knew for years its talc products posed potential dangers but did not adequately inform the public.
Both women are California residents who testify they used Johnson & Johnson baby powder for about 40 years, often after bathing. Kent was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014, while Schultz received her diagnosis in 2018, according to court records.
The women tell jurors their treatments involve major surgeries and dozens of rounds of chemotherapy. Their lawsuit argues that long-term use of talc products caused their cancers and that the company concealed known risks.
Andy Birchfield, an attorney for the plaintiffs, says Johnson & Johnson understood the potential cancer risk as early as the 1960s. “Absolutely they knew,” Birchfield tells the jury. “They were doing everything they could to hide it, to bury the truth about the dangers.”
A spokesperson for the plaintiffs does not immediately respond to a request for comment after the verdict.
Johnson & Johnson Plans Immediate Appeal
Johnson & Johnson rejects the verdict and says it will challenge the decision. Erik Haas, the company’s worldwide vice president of litigation, says in a statement that the company plans to “immediately appeal this verdict and expect to prevail as we typically do with aberrant adverse verdicts.”
Defense attorney Allison Brown argues during the trial that no major U.S. health authority supports a link between talc and ovarian cancer. She tells jurors that the only people who connect the women’s cancers to talc are their lawyers.
“They do not have the evidence in this case,” Brown says. She also argues there is no scientific proof that talc can migrate from the outside of the body to the reproductive organs.
Johnson & Johnson maintains that its talc products are safe, do not contain asbestos and do not cause cancer. The company stops selling talc-based baby powder in the United States in 2020 and switches to a cornstarch version.
Thousands of Talc Lawsuits Still Pending
The verdict adds to ongoing legal pressure as the jury orders Johnson & Johnson in one of the first talc cases to reach a jury since recent bankruptcy efforts were dismissed. More than 67,000 plaintiffs still have pending lawsuits alleging cancer linked to talc products.
Johnson & Johnson has repeatedly tried to resolve the claims through a subsidiary’s bankruptcy. Federal courts rejected those efforts three times, most recently in April. The bankruptcy attempts pause most cases, delaying trials across the country.
The Kent and Schultz cases are the first talc trials to reach a jury since the latest Chapter 11 effort is dismissed. Before those filings, Johnson & Johnson has mixed results in talc litigation, including verdicts as high as $4.69 billion, though some awards are later reduced or overturned on appeal.
Most lawsuits involve ovarian cancer claims. A smaller portion alleges that talc causes mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer often linked to asbestos exposure. Johnson & Johnson has settled some mesothelioma cases but has not reached a nationwide agreement.
In the past year, juries delivered several large mesothelioma verdicts against the company, including one exceeding $900 million in Los Angeles in October. The company continues to deny liability in all talc-related cases.0.
Also Read :- Healthcare 360 Magazine
