Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Baby Powder and other J&J talc-based products have been linked to ovarian cancer, leading to thousands of lawsuits and many multi-million dollar jury verdicts. One such case was decided in July 2018, where 22 women and their families were awarded $4.7 billion by a Missouri jury. The original award included $550 million in compensatory damages and $4.14 billion in punitive damages, which was later reduced to about $2 billion overall. Two of the 22 women were also dropped from the lawsuit at that time.
On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by J&J to vacate the $2 billion verdict on the grounds that the Missouri courts should not have combined the 22 cases together, which J&J argues confused the jury due to differing state laws. The court did not indicate why it rejected the appeal. It is unclear whether J&J plans to appeal the Missouri verdict on other grounds.
See the full news report here.
J&J maintains that its products are safe. Key to many of the trials was a trove of J&J internal documents that documented its raw and refined talc sometimes being contaminated with asbestos, a known source of cancer, which J&J kept hidden from regulators and the public. Reuters ran a special report on this topic in December of 2018 and can be found here.
Companies that design, manufacture, or market a product that harms consumers can be pursued for financial damages. If you have been injured or harmed by a faulty product, you may be entitled to recovery under a product liability action known as a mass tort. The Law Offices of Scott Warmuth provides a free consultation and case evaluation to anyone who has been harmed by a dangerous or recalled product. Call us today at 888-517-9888 to schedule your consultation.
