A Minnesota jury awarded $65.5 million on Friday to a mom of three who claimed talcum merchandise made by Johnson & Johnson uncovered her to asbestos and contributed to her developing cancer in the lining of her lungs.
Jurors decided that plaintiff Anna Jean Houghton Carley, 37, should be compensated by Johnson & Johnson after utilizing its child powder all through her childhood and later developing mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer prompted primarily by publicity to the carcinogen asbestos.
Johnson & Johnson said it would appeal the verdict.
A mom of three who claimed talcum merchandise made by Johnson & Johnson uncovered her to asbestos and contributed to her developing cancer in the lining of her lungs. EPA
During a 13-day trial in Ramsey County District Court, Carley’s legal staff argued the pharmaceutical giant offered and marketed talc-based merchandise to customers despite figuring out it can be contaminated with asbestos.
Carley’s attorneys also said her household was never warned about potential risks while utilizing the product on their youngster.
The product was taken off cabinets in the US in 2020.
“This case was not about compensation only. It was about truth and accountability,” Carley’s attorney Ben Braly said.
Erik Haas, worldwide vice president of litigation for Johnson & Johnson, argued the company’s child powder is protected, does not comprise asbestos and does not cause cancer.
He expects an appellate court to reverse the determination.
The product was taken off cabinets in the US in 2020. REUTERS
The verdict is the newest development in a longstanding legal battle over claims that talc in Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower physique powder was linked to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, which strikes the lungs and other organs.
Johnson & Johnson stopped promoting powder made with talc worldwide in 2023.
“These lawsuits are predicated on ‘junk science,’ refuted by decades of studies that demonstrate Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer,” Haas said in a assertion after the verdict.
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles jury awarded $40 million to two girls who claimed Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder prompted their ovarian cancer.
And in October, another California jury ordered the company to pay $966 million to the household of a girl who died of mesothelioma, claiming she developed the cancer because the child powder she used was contaminated with asbestos.