Johnson & Johnson to pay $260 million in latest talc lawsuit
9:53 AM EDT, June 5, 2024
Another lawsuit has been filed against the corporation Johnson & Johnson. The manufacturer of talc products will have to pay compensation to a 48-year-old woman and her husband. A court in Oregon, USA made this decision. In addition to the compensation, J&J must also pay a fine.
Johnson & Johnson, an American pharmaceutical corporation, is accused of its baby powder being responsible for tens of thousands of cancer cases. The company has already paid billions of dollars in compensation as part of court settlements, and now, according to the German news site tagesschau.de, it has been fined additional millions of dollars in a new lawsuit.
In the latest court case concerning the alleged asbestos contamination of talc used in powder, the company faced another defeat. A jury in Portland awarded the plaintiff and her husband $60 million in compensation and imposed a financial penalty of $200 million. Johnson & Johnson announced that it would appeal the decision - reports tagesschau.de.
Another lawsuit against J&J
The plaintiff, Kyung Lee, who was diagnosed with mesothelioma last year at the age of 48, claimed that her cancer, which affects the tissue around her heart, was caused by exposure to asbestos from J&J's baby powder and deodorants for nearly 30 years.
In response to these allegations, J&J's lawyer argued during the trial that Lee's disease was probably caused by asbestos used in a factory near her home. He also claimed that the verdict is "inconsistent with decades of independent scientific assessments" that confirmed the baby powder did not contain asbestos and did not cause cancer.
Tens of thousands of lawsuits
The company has been dealing with lawsuits from over 61,000 plaintiffs in the USA related to the sale of talc products. Most of these plaintiffs are women with ovarian cancer, with only a small minority being patients with mesothelioma - reports tagesschau.de.
In response to this wave of lawsuits, Johnson & Johnson has taken advantage of the specifics of Texas legislation by establishing a subsidiary, LTL, to handle the claims. LTL subsequently declared bankruptcy. Through this strategy, Johnson & Johnson is attempting to settle most talc claims with a single agreement amounting to $6.48 billion, according to German reports.
