Articles Posted in Talcum Powder and Cancer

A Missouri trial judge recently upheld a substantial $4.69 billion verdict in favor of 22 plaintiffs and their families in an asbestos talcum powder lawsuit against New Jersey-based pharmaceutical and cosmetics giant Johnson & Johnson. Soon after the judge upheld the verdict, Johnson & Johnson continued to deny responsibility in the case and vowed to appeal the decision and have the award overturned.

In his orders, the Circuit Court judge for the City of St. Louis noted there was no reason to further delay certification of the award for appeal and so affirmed the jury’s decision. Johnson & Johnson had chosen not to file any post judgement motions asking the court to reduce or set aside the verdict entirely, thus allowing it to take its case to state appeals courts to try and challenge the jury’s will on technical grounds.

The plaintiffs in the case alleged that they or their relatives developed various types of cancer, including mesothelioma, from years of using Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder, Shower to Shower, and other talc-based products developed by the company. While Johnson & Johnson denied its products contained talcum powder or had been talc-free for several decades, the plaintiffs showed internal company documents to the contrary.

A St. Louis jury recently handed down a substantial $550 million verdict in an asbestos talcum powder lawsuit in which several women accused pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson of causing their serious medical conditions. The same jury will also decide whether or not to award additional punitive damages to the plaintiffs as compensation for higher counts of negligence alleged in the asbestos cancer lawsuit.

According to the talcum powder asbestos cancer lawsuit, filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, the 22 female plaintiffs developed ovarian cancer due to the asbestos-contaminated talc contained in products the victims used over a number of years. Sadly, six of the victims in this case passed away due to their ovarian cancer, leaving their surviving family members to carry on their claims and seek justice against powerful companies putting profits before people.

While Johnson & Johnson has claimed for years that its talc-based products are safe and contain no known carcinogens, juries across the country have disagreed, handing down significant verdicts on behalf of plaintiffs. Johnson & Johnson faces an estimated 9,000 talcum powder cancer lawsuits across the country, with plaintiffs alleging that the talc-based products they used caused their cancer diagnoses, including mesothelioma.

The American Cancer Society declares on its website that talcum powder-based products have been asbestos-free since the 1970s. Johnson & Johnson, one of the major manufacturers of such products, is equally vocal about claiming that its well-known talc-based baby powder does not, and never has, contained asbestos. Juries hearing claims to the contrary continue to cast doubt the industry position.

The latest reflection of this came in mid-July with a panel in Missouri ordering Johnson & Johnson to pay nearly $4.7 billion in compensatory and punitive damages to a group of 22 women. The women alleged that baby powder and other J&J talc-based products did contain asbestos and caused them to contract ovarian cancer. Johnson & Johnson vows to appeal the case. Meanwhile, the company is named in thousands of additional actions claiming talc-related cancer and they continue to work their way through the courts.

Many can and do propose the argument that there is no solid scientific evidence that there is any link between talc and ovarian cancer. But the fact remains that, in its natural state, asbestos appears in talc. And asbestos is known to cause cancer.

A New Jersey judge recently upheld a substantial $117 million verdict in favor of two-plaintiffs in an asbestos talcum powder lawsuit against cosmetics and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and its talc supplier Imerys Talc. The award, originally handed down in April 2018, included $30 million in compensatory damages, $7 million for loss of consortium, and $80 million for a husband and wife.

The Middlesex County Superior Court judge in New Brunswick, New Jersey refused to grant Johnson & Johnson’s petition to set aside the verdict, potentially setting up another appeal to a higher state court. The jury’s award found Johnson & Johnson 70% liable for the plaintiffs’ damages and determined Imerys to be responsible for the remaining 30%. That verdict was the second such in two months for the two defendants, with a subsequent verdict in May 2018 awarding a 68-year-old plaintiff over $25 million in damages.

The asbestos talcum powder lawsuit alleged that the husband in the case developed mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer, from years of using talc-based products sold by Johnson & Johnson with materials sourced by Imerys Talc. The plaintiff claimed that he used the product from 1973 until roughly 2003 without knowing it contained deadly asbestos fibers, information he claimed Johnson & Johnson knew but kept from the public.

A talc supplier for pharmaceutical and cosmetics giant Johnson & Johnson recently agreed to a settlement with 22 plaintiffs in an upcoming talcum powder cancer trial over allegations that the defendants’ talc-based products caused the victims’ cancer diagnosis. As part of the agreement, Imerys Talc SA will pay a total of at least $5 million, according to reports, to the plaintiffs to resolve the company’s liability in the case also involving Johnson & Johnson.

The settlement comes right before the start of a talcum powder cancer trial in U.S. District Court in Missouri pitting ovarian cancer victims who claim their decades of using talcum powder sold by Johnson & Johnson and sourced by Imerys caused their condition. With Imerys’ settlement, Johnson & Johnson remains the only defendant left in these particular, cases but the two parties face several thousand other lawsuits over claims that their talcum powder products caused cancer, including mesothelioma.

An asbestos cancer lawsuit brought by 22 women recently began in a Missouri state court over claims that pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder products caused the plaintiffs’ ovarian cancer diagnoses. The claim alleges that the plaintiffs’ years of use of Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based products caused their cancer diagnoses and that the defendant knew for years about the risk of injury but did nothing to warn the public.

According to the asbestos cancer lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, the 22 female plaintiffs and the representatives of their estates claim that their years of using Johnson & Johnson’s products like Baby Powder and Shower to Shower caused their ovarian cancer diagnoses. The lawsuit alleges that the talc used to make these products was contaminated with asbestos during the mining and is therefore the causal link between using Johnson & Johnson’s products and developing the disease.

Talc and asbestos are both naturally occurring minerals often found in deposits adjacent to one another, which can lead to talc contamination if care is not taken to separate the two substances during mining. Although federal law has required talc to be asbestos-free for many decades now, plaintiffs in talcum powder asbestos lawsuits allege that independent testing shows the talc sourced for Johnson & Johnson products still contains asbestos to this day.