J & J Hit with $4.7B Verdict in Talc Asbestos Cancer Case

A Missouri jury Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $4.69 billion to 22 women who claim asbestos in the company’s talc products caused them to develop ovarian cancer. It is the largest verdict to date the consumer goods giant has faced in an asbestos-talc case. The Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis handed down $550 million in compensatory damages and $4.14 billion in punitive damages in the verdict, averaging about $25 million apiece for the 22 plaintiffs. J&J currently faces roughly 9,000 cases that blame its talc products — including the company’s iconic Johnson’s Baby Powder — for causing cancer. Most of the cases are related to ovarian cancer, but J&J has recently been hit with several verdicts linking its products to mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos. The company said in a statement it plans to appeal the $4.69 billion verdict and that it stands by the safety of its products. “Johnson & Johnson is deeply disappointed in the verdict, which was the product of a fundamentally unfair process,” the company said in a statement. “Every verdict against Johnson & Johnson in this court that has gone through the appeals process has been reversed and the multiple errors present in this trial were worse than those in the prior trials which have been reversed.” Asbestos in Makeup Find out how asbestos finds its way into cosmetic products. Learn More Success with Appeal...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news