J&J Loses Second Mesothelioma Case
A jury in the US state of California jury has ruled against Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit brought by a woman who claimed she developed cancer by using the company's talc-based baby powder.
In the latest case against the New Jersey company, the jurors in Los Angeles found that it acted with malice, oppression or fraud and recommended $21.7 million in compensatory damages for plaintiff Joanne Anderson, who suffers from mesothelioma, a lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure.
J&J was ordered to bear 67% of the payout, with the rest distributed among other defendants, along with $4 million in punitive damages.
This was the second jury to rule against J&J on a mesothelioma charge in less than two months. In April, jurors in J&J’s headquarters town of New Brunswick ordered the company and a unit of talc miner Imerys to pay a total of $117 million to a banker who claimed his cancer was linked to baby powder use.
Anderson, who said she used the baby powder on her children and while bowling, claimed J&J failed to adequately warn consumers that its powder contains asbestos and could cause cancer. One of her trial lawyers said the company had “engaged in a multi-decade campaign” wherein they hid testing data from regulators, altered reports to make them more favorable and lied to consumers.
In a statement, J&J said it will appeal the verdict and “continue to defend the safety of our product because it does not contain asbestos or cause mesothelioma.
"Over the past 50 years, multiple independent, non-litigation driven scientific evaluations have been conducted by respected academic institutions and government bodies, including the US Food and Drug Administration, and none have found that the talc in Johnson's Baby Powder contains asbestos," the company said.
