Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $40 million over talc-linked cancer claims

On December 12, a California jury awarded $40 million to two women who said Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder caused their ovarian cancer.

The jury in Los Angeles Superior Court awarded $18 million to Monica Kent and $22 million to Deborah Schultz and her husband after finding that Johnson & Johnson knew for years that its talc-based products were dangerous but failed to warn consumers, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide vice-president of litigation, said in a statement the company plans to “immediately appeal this verdict and expect to prevail as we typically do with aberrant adverse verdicts.”

Kent was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014, and Schultz was diagnosed in 2018. Both said they used J&J’s baby powder for 40 years, and their treatments involved major surgeries and dozens of rounds of chemotherapy.

In closing arguments, Andy Birchfield, an attorney for the women, told the jury that Johnson & Johnson knew as far back as the 1960s that its product could cause cancer.

“Absolutely, they knew, they knew, and they were doing everything they could to hide it, to bury the truth about the dangers,” Birchfield said.

Allison Brown, an attorney for Johnson & Johnson, said the only people to link the cancers to talc were the plaintiffs’ lawyers, arguing there is no study showing talc can reach reproductive organs.

“They don’t have the evidence in this case, and they hope you don’t mind,” Brown told the jury.

Johnson & Johnson faces lawsuits from more than 67,000 plaintiffs claiming cancer after using talc products. The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the US in 2020, switching to cornstarch, and maintains that its products are safe and asbestos-free.

Before recent bankruptcy attempts, J&J had mixed results in talc trials, with verdicts up to $4.69 billion. Most cases involve ovarian cancer, while mesothelioma claims are fewer but have led to recent verdicts exceeding $900 million.

By Aghakazim Guliyev