A Los Angeles jury awarded $417 million to a 62 year old woman who blamed her ovarian cancer on Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder – the first such award in a California court, and the third highest award in the U.S. so far in 2017.
Via Bloomberg
The jury found the parent company and its consumer-products unit liable Monday for failing to warn a woman over the alleged risk of the baby powder. The verdict includes $347 million in punitive damages. J&J, which faces 5,500 claims in U.S. courts, has lost four previous jury verdicts in St. Louis for a total of $300 million.
The company is appealing all the verdicts, and was successful in halting a new trial in St. Louis after the U.S. Supreme court made it more difficult for plaintiffs living out of state to join lawsuits in states deemed favorable to their claims.
J&J spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said in a statement “We are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder,’’ adding “We are preparing for additional trials in the U.S. and we will continue to defend the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder.”
Long term talc use
In statement on the courthouse stairs, plaintiff Eva Echeverria’s attorney, Mark Robinson, said that J&J should star warning women immediately about the risks of talcum powder.
“J&J needs to see they not only have verdicts against them in St. Louis, they now also have them in Los Angeles,” said Robinson, adding “There’s a problem all over the country with women using talcum powder on daily basis for 10, 20, 30, 40 years.”
Echeverria said she began using J&J baby powder since she was 11, and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007.
J&J says it’s horseshit
The New Jersey based J&J has said that the plaintiffs’ allegations aren’t supported by science, pointing to two cases last tossed out of court last year in which a judge found evidence linking baby powder to ovarian cancer inadequate.
Johnson and Johnson stock didn’t budge in the wake of the announcement – considering its $40 billion in cash on hand, $16.5 billion in net annual revenue, and the fact that appeals should tie the case(s) up in court for months to years.
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wtf is she using that much baby powder for?
Oh dear oh dear. J&J quits Trump’s cabinet in support of their base (mothers and babies) only to be found guilty of giving that base cancer. Not a good week.
Waiting for the class actions to start n 3, 2, 1 …
Baby powder is safe only for babies…not for mature women or mothers; that’s common sense.
Jesus Christ. Healthcare is a fucking scam people. Now go get flu shots and swallow mind control pills by the bottle. They are not snake oil poison. At all. The teevee said so your entire life.
The last flu shot I had gave me an auto-immune reaction that lasted 3 weeks and inflamed one whole side of my body. Since then I’ve had none and haven’t had a flu either.
Eat well, drink lots of water. The body takes care of itself.