Last week, a St. Louis jury ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to pay approximately $110.4 million to a Virginia woman who claimed her ovarian cancer diagnosis was caused by decades of using J&J talcum powder-based products for feminine hygiene. This is the largest jury verdict to ever be issued in a talcum powder lawsuit. The plaintiff was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012, after using the J&J products Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for feminine hygiene for four decades. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments. The plaintiff filed a product liability lawsuit against J&J and talc supplier Imerys Talc, alleging that the companies did not provide adequate warnings about the risk of developing cancer from using these products. The jury found that J&J was 99 percent at fault for the woman's cancer diagnosis, while Imerys was one percent at fault. The verdict included $5.4 million in compensatory damages, $105 million in punitive damages against J&J and $50,000 in punitive damages against Imerys. The verdict shows that J&J and Imerys have ignored scientific evidence about the cancer risk of talcum powder, according to a lawyer for the plaintiff. J&J released a statement saying it sympathized with women who have been impacted by ovarian cancer, but it plans to appeal the verdict.
Past Talcum Powder Verdicts
Last week's verdict marks the fourth time since February 2016 that a jury has ruled against J&J and awarded compensation to the plaintiff. The previous three times this happened, the plaintiffs were awarded approximately $197 million in combined compensation, including:- More than $70 million awarded in October 2016 to a woman who claimed she contracted ovarian cancer after years of using Baby Powder
- An award of $55 million to a woman who contracted ovarian cancer and eventually beat the disease
- A $72 million award to the family of a woman from Alabama who died from ovarian cancer
