In the latest of a long string of legal blows sustained by Johnson & Johnson, a talcum powder lawsuit jury has just found the company liable for the mesothelioma developed by a woman in New York. As a result, the jury has ordered the company to pay the woman and her husband $325 million after they claimed that the talc powder that she regularly used caused her cancer. For the company, it is another large verdict in connection with its flagship product. While the company has prevailed in front of some juries in a hotly-contested issue, its legal difficulties are increasing with more lawsuits regarding the product still to go to court.
Talcum powder with asbestos
One of over 14,000 Talc lawsuits
This case was only one of over 14,000 legal claims resulting from use of the talc powder. The specific claim against the company is that the talc powder contains traces of asbestos. Exposure to this harmful substance can cause mesothelioma, which is a highly fatal disease. Asbestos occurs naturally very close to talc, and the possibility that traces of asbestos can be found in talc has been debated for nearly 60 years. Specifically, there are two different types of cancers that have been tied to long-term usage of talc powder; ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. More information
Concerns go back to 1950’s
Concern about this possibility dates as far back as the late 1950s and gathered steam in the 1970s, when there were reports about cases of ovarian cancer caused by talc. There has been evidence presented at trials that the company may have known about this as far back as the early 1960s. Johnson & Johnson has vigorously contested this idea, presenting its own scientific conclusions that deny this possibility. The company also cites government studies as buttressing its claim that its talc powder is not dangerous.
Talcum Powder Lawsuit Lawyer
The first case that resulted in a verdict against the company was brought by a man and led to a $117 million judgement against the manufacturer. Johnson & Johnson’s potential legal liability began to come into focus last year when a jury in Missouri ordered it to pay approximately $4.7 billion to 22 women who regularly used talc powder and contracted cancer. Subsequent to that verdict, several other juries have found the company liable and assessed high damages against the company. Johnson & Johnson did have some success in a trial in South Carolina, when a jury held that this product did not cause cancer. However, defense verdicts have been the exception rather than the norm in this field recently. This has put downward pressure on the company’s share price as concerns about crippling liability have come into play.
Link between talcum powder and cancer
In this particular case, the plaintiff used talc powder daily after her shower. The woman applied it generously to both her chest and her underarms. When this happened, the talc powder would often make a cloud and the woman would breathe the particles. This usage went back many years from the age of eight until the woman saw an advertisement on television that discussed the potential link between talc powder and cancer. This spanned a period of over 50 years. The plaintiff developed terminal mesothelioma and filed suit against the company. The woman had a lung removed in an attempt to treat the disease, but by the time of trial, was too ill to attend the court proceedings.
Here, the jury’s award consisted of two different parts. When the jury first found Johnson & Johnson liable, it awarded compensatory damages of $25 million to the terminally ill plaintiff and her husband. Of this total, $20 million was awarded to the woman for her suffering and $5 million to the husband for his loss. The jury did not accept the company’s defense that there was no connection between talc powder and cancer.
Well publicized talcum powder lawsuit
The case then moved to the next phase where the jury could consider awarding punitive damages based on the conduct of the company. In this case, the plaintiff had made a claim of corporate misconduct so the jury could consider punitive damages against the company. Prior to this phase, there was a New York court ruling that the plaintiffs could introduce evidence before the jury that went beyond the company’s financials. As most defendants do, Johnson & Johnson had sought to limit the evidence to the product itself and tried to keep any possible signs of corporate misconduct out of the courtroom. This has been an issue in many well-publicized product liability suits recently, including the suit against Monsanto for its Roundup product. While the judge did not allow it in for this particular case, there have been statements from Johnson & Johnson’s CEO about the safety of talc powder that have been made recently that may also be legally problematic for the company.
Jury finds Johnson and Johnson knew of talcum powder risks
Here, the talcum powder lawsuit jury found that the company knew for years of the possibility that usage of talc powder could cause cancer. However, instead of taking action to either make the product safer or remove it from the marketplace, Johnson & Johnson took steps to conceal this knowledge. At the very minimum, the jury believed that the company could have continued to sell the product while warning customers of the risks.
At the punitive damage stage of the talcum powder lawsuit trial, the plaintiff presented a host of evidence that evidenced corporate misconduct. The woman’s attorney presented extensive documentation of what the company did and did not do in response to the potential asbestos contamination of its product. This evidence showed that the company purposely concealed key information and adopted testing procedures that were designed to skew findings in favor the fact that talc powder does not cause cancer.
Liability of J and J in talcum powder lawsuit
This particular verdict was the tenth trial in which a jury found the company liable for the plaintiff’s cancer. In addition, to this point, the company has settled four additional cases. Johnson & Johnson has had five verdicts in its favor. The company has promised to appeal this verdict. Large jury awards such as these are subject to being overturned by a judge on appeal or otherwise reduced and Johnson & Johnson has been able to overturn some of these particular verdicts. Here, Johnson & Johnson claims that the plaintiff’s key expert witness gave false testimony. The company claims that this expert falsely claimed that he obtained samples of talc that had traces of asbestos.
Of the 14,000 remaining cases, approximately 11,000 of them are currently in federal courts. There is a multi-district litigation in New Jersey. The verdicts against the company have been in cases filed in state courts. The company has attempted to move the state law cases to a federal court in Delaware, but has been unsuccessful. In most instances, corporate defendants have success when they try to remove cases from state courts.
Lawsuits are not the only problem that Johnson & Johnson is facing in regard to its talc powder. The company received a subpoena from both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice concerning the safety of this product. The government sought documents from the company related to the safety of the product. A United States Senator has also requested documents from the company regarding documentation of past safety testing of talc powder. It is likely that the company will continue to face scrutiny about both the safety of this product and the way in which Johnson & Johnson handled it.
If you or a loved one has used Johnson & Johnson’s talc powder over a sustained period of time and have been diagnosed with cancer, you may be eligible for substantial financial compensation. It is vital that you contact a product liability attorney as soon as possible in order to discuss your case. The lawyer will most likely represent you on a contingency basis so the consultation with the lawyer will not cost you anything. More info here
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