Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $966 Million to Family of Woman Whose Deadly Cancer Was Linked to Baby Powder

From [HERE] A Los Angeles jury this month ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died in 2021 from mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer linked to asbestos exposure.

The family of California resident Mae More, who died at age 88, sued the company, alleging its talc-based baby powder products contained the asbestos that caused her cancer.

The jury ordered J&J to pay $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages. It is the largest settlement yet awarded in a mesothelioma case against the company, handed down just days after a South Carolina jury rejected a similar claim.

Trey Branham, a lawyer for Moore’s family, told Reuters he is “hopeful that Johnson & Johnson will finally accept responsibility for these senseless deaths.”

Erik Haas, J&J’s vice president of litigation, said in a statement that the company plans to immediately appeal the verdict, which he called “egregious and unconstitutional.” U.S. Supreme Court rulings have generally capped punitive damages at nine times the amount of compensatory damages.

J&J maintains that its products are safe, do not contain asbestos and don’t cause cancer. However, the company stopped selling its talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, and ended global sales in 2023 after facing tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that asbestos in the talc had caused mesothelioma, ovarian and other cancers.

It replaced the talc version of its powder with a cornstarch-based formula.

Internal memos showed that company officials worried for decades that the talc could be contaminated with asbestos, ​​and that J&J ramped up its marketing to African American womenand other high-use groups. [MORE]