A Los Angeles jury awarded $40 million on Friday to two women who said Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder products caused their ovarian cancer.
The jury awarded $18 million to Monica Kent and $22 million to Deborah Schultz and her husband. The verdict is the latest in long-running litigation alleging talc in Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower body powder is linked to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer that can affect the lungs and other organs.
In a statement, Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said the company had won “16 of the 17 ovarian cancer cases it previously tried” and expects to prevail again after appealing Friday’s verdict. He called the jury’s findings “irreconcilable with the decades of independent scientific evaluations confirming that talc is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”
Why It Matters
The case adds to the legal pressure on Johnson & Johnson over its talc-based products and could influence how thousands of similar claims are pursued nationwide.
What To Know
Johnson & Johnson has faced years of lawsuits accusing its talc products of causing cancer. In October, another California jury ordered the company to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died of mesothelioma, with the family claiming the baby powder she used was contaminated with asbestos. Johnson & Johnson discontinued talc-based powder globally in 2023 amid declining sales and continuing litigation.
The latest verdict comes months after a U.S. bankruptcy court judge denied the company’s proposed $9 billion settlement plan in April. That decision pushed Johnson & Johnson back toward litigating individual cases rather than attempting to resolve claims through bankruptcy proceedings.
This is the third bankruptcy case tied to the baby powder litigation involving a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Red River Talc LLC sought confirmation of a prepackaged Chapter 11 plan that would have paid $9 billion to settle ovarian and other gynecological cancer claims. In April, Judge Christopher Lopez of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled the company relied on a flawed voter solicitation process involving personal injury claimants.
After the bankruptcy plan was rejected, Johnson & Johnson said it would not appeal that decision and would instead return to the civil court system to fight cases individually. The company also reversed about $7 billion from a prior reserve and said it has settled 95 percent of filed mesothelioma lawsuits, concluded all state consumer protection claims, and resolved all talc-supplier disputes. In 2020, it replaced talc with cornstarch in baby powder sold in most of North America.
What People Are Saying
Daniel Robinson, an attorney for Kent and Schultz at Robinson Calcagnie, told the Associated Press: “The only thing they did was be loyal to Johnson & Johnson as a customer for only 50 years. That loyalty was a one-way street.”
Haas said the company had won “16 of the 17 ovarian cancer cases it previously tried” and again criticized the jury’s conclusion as “irreconcilable with the decades of independent scientific evaluations confirming that talc is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”
What Happens Next
Johnson & Johnson says it plans to appeal the verdict.
