Johnson & Johnson, the US market’s largest healthcare company, and its talc supply partner Imerys Talc America have lost their first lawsuit involving the deadly cancer mesothelioma.

A superior court in the state of New Jersey ordered the two firms to pay $37 million in compensatory damages to a man who was diagnosed with the disease after using J&J’s talc-based Baby Powder brand. since 1972.

The jury found J&J to be 70% liable for the plaintiff's damages, Imery to 30 %. A second session has been scheduled for this week to determine any punitive damages. The company is expected to appeal the current verdict, as it has every other related lawsuit it has lost.  In a number of cases, it has been successful in having verdicts overturned or the damages reduced.

In the latest case, local reports said the verdict came after only one day of deliberation, following more than two months of testimony. While J&J denied that the powder was tainted with asbestos, the prosecution showed the seven-member jury internal documents said to indicate that the companies were aware as early as 1969 that the powder could be contaminated.

J&J is currently facing more than 6,600 lawsuits related to its talcum powder. Most of the plaintiffs are women who have charged that using the powder in intimate applications caused their ovarian cancer diagnoses. In November 2017, the healthcare company won a lawsuit against a mesothelioma patient claiming that its powder was the cause.

One law firm is said to have offered free legal reviews to women diagnosed with ovarian cancer that may be associated Johnson & Johnson's talc-based powders.