Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $966 million in talc cancer case

A Los Angeles jury  ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died from mesothelioma, finding the company liable in the latest lawsuit alleging its baby powder products cause cancer.

The family of Mae Moore, who died in 2021, sued the company the same year, claiming Johnson & Johnson’s talc baby powder products contained asbestos fibers that caused her rare cancer. The jury ordered the company to pay $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages, according to court filings.

The verdict could be reduced on appeal as the U.S. Supreme Court has found that punitive damages should generally be no more than nine times compensatory damages.

Representatives for Johnson & Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company has said its products are safe, do not contain asbestos, and do not cause cancer. J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product.

Read Also: Johnson & Johnson adds $1.1 billion to proposed talc settlement

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) plans to pay an additional $1.1 billion to resolve tens of thousands of legal actions alleging its baby powder and other talc products caused cancer, two people familiar with the matter said.

The increase would boost the size of the settlement to more than $9 billion paid over 25 years. J&J on Wednesday said it reached an agreement with a plaintiffs’ lawyer representing 12,000 clients to recommend the settlement offer to them, adding to support already received from other claimants.

The healthcare giant is preparing to have a subsidiary declare bankruptcy to finalize the proposed settlement before the end of this month, one of the people said. J&J would continue operating without filing for Chapter 11. The company maintains its talc products are safe and do not cause cancer.

The timing of a bankruptcy filing could change depending on how the counting of additional votes unfolds.

J&J said Allen Smith, the plaintiffs’ lawyer now supporting its plan, agreed to the settlement offer in exchange for “additional monetary and non-monetary benefits for all talc claimants” in a bankruptcy plan it expects a judge to later approve.

J&J declined to comment on the amount of additional money it plans to pay and did not respond to an inquiry regarding the timetable for a subsidiary filing for bankruptcy protection.

The company earlier this summer gave talc claimants until July 26 to vote on its proposed bankruptcy settlement. In August, J&J allowed claimants additional time at the request of plaintiffs’ lawyers including Smith, the company said.

J&J’s current settlement offer is “the best and most realistic option available for claimants to recover for their claims in a timely manner,” Smith said in a J&J news release Wednesday.