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 growing most cancers within the lining of her lungs.
Jurors decided that plaintiff Anna Jean Houghton Carley, 37, needs to be compensated by Johnson & Johnson after utilizing its child powder all through her childhood and later growing mesothelioma, an aggressive most cancers prompted primarily by publicity to the carcinogen asbestos.
Johnson & Johnson stated it could attraction the decision.
Throughout a 13-day trial in Ramsey County District Courtroom, Carley’s authorized crew argued the pharmaceutical big offered and marketed talc-based merchandise to shoppers regardless of understanding 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 lawyer Ben Braly stated.
Erik Haas, worldwide vp of litigation for Johnson & Johnson, argued the corporate’s child powder is protected, doesn’t include asbestos and doesn’t trigger most cancers.
He expects an appellate court docket to reverse the choice.
The decision is the most recent growth in a longstanding authorized battle over claims that talc in Johnson’s Child Powder and Bathe to Bathe physique powder was linked 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 many years of research that show Johnson & Johnson’s Child Powder is protected, doesn’t include asbestos and doesn’t trigger most cancers,” Haas stated in a press release after the decision.
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles jury awarded $40 million to 2 ladies who claimed Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder prompted 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 infant powder she used was contaminated with asbestos.
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