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 creating most cancers within the lining of her lungs.
Jurors decided that plaintiff Anna Jean Houghton Carley, 37, ought to be compensated by Johnson & Johnson after utilizing its child powder all through her childhood and later creating mesothelioma, an aggressive most cancers triggered primarily by publicity to the carcinogen asbestos.
Johnson & Johnson stated it could enchantment the decision.
Throughout a 13-day trial in Ramsey County District Courtroom, Carley’s authorized workforce argued the pharmaceutical big bought and marketed talc-based merchandise to customers regardless of figuring out it may be contaminated with asbestos.
Carley’s legal professionals additionally stated her household was by no means warned about potential risks whereas utilizing the product on their baby.
The product was taken off cabinets within the US in 2020.
“This case was not about compensation solely. It was about fact and accountability,” Carley’s legal professional Ben Braly stated.
Erik Haas, worldwide vice chairman of litigation for Johnson & Johnson, argued the corporate’s child powder is secure, doesn’t include asbestos and doesn’t trigger most cancers.
He expects an appellate courtroom to reverse the choice.
The decision is the most recent improvement in a longstanding authorized battle over claims that talc in Johnson’s Child Powder and Bathe to Bathe physique powder was related to ovarian most cancers and mesothelioma, which strikes the lungs and different organs.
Johnson & Johnson stopped promoting powder made with talc worldwide in 2023.
“These lawsuits are predicated on ‘junk science,’ refuted by a long time of research that exhibit Johnson & Johnson’s Child Powder is secure, doesn’t include asbestos and doesn’t trigger most cancers,” Haas stated in an announcement after the decision.
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles jury awarded $40 million to 2 ladies who claimed Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder triggered their ovarian most cancers.
And in October, one other California jury ordered the corporate to pay $966 million to the household of a lady who died of mesothelioma, claiming she developed the most cancers as a result of the newborn powder she used was contaminated with asbestos.
