7 months ago
1
A California assemblage successful the U.S. connected Friday (December 12, 2025) awarded $40 cardinal to 2 women who said Johnson & Johnson’s babe pulverization was to blasted for their ovarian cancer.
The assemblage successful Los Angeles Superior Court awarded $18 cardinal to Monica Kent and $22 cardinal to Deborah Schultz and her hubby aft uncovering that Johnson & Johnson knew for years its talc-based products were unsafe but failed to pass consumers.
Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said successful a connection the institution plans to “immediately entreaty this verdict and expect to prevail arsenic we typically bash with aberrant adverse verdicts.”
A spokesperson for the plaintiffs did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.
Used for 40 years
Ms. Kent was diagnosed with ovarian crab successful 2014, according to tribunal records. Ms. Schultz was diagnosed successful 2018. Both women are California residents who accidental they utilized J&J’s babe pulverization aft bathing for 40 years. Their treatments for ovarian crab person progressive large surgeries and dozens of rounds of chemotherapy, they testified astatine the trial.
In closing arguments that Reuters viewed connected Courtroom View Network, Andy Birchfield, an lawyer for the women, told the assemblage that Johnson & Johnson knew arsenic acold backmost arsenic the 1960s that its merchandise could origin cancer.
“Absolutely they knew, they knew and they were doing everything they could to fell it, to hide the information astir the dangers,” Mr. Birchfield said.
No evidence, says company
Allison Brown, an lawyer for Johnson & Johnson, said the lone radical to archer Ms. Kent and Ms. Schultz that their cancers were caused by talc were their lawyers, arsenic the alleged transportation isn’t backed by immoderate large U.S. wellness authorization and determination is nary survey that shows talc tin migrate from the extracurricular of the assemblage to the reproductive organs.
“They don’t person the grounds successful this case, and they anticipation you don’t mind,” Ms. Brown told the jury.
J&J is facing lawsuits from much than 67,000 plaintiffs who accidental they were diagnosed with crab aft utilizing its babe pulverization and different talc products, according to tribunal filings.
The institution has said its products are safe, bash not incorporate asbestos and bash not origin cancer. J&J stopped selling talc-based babe pulverization successful the U.S. successful 2020, switching to a cornstarch product.
J&J has sought to resoluteness the litigation done bankruptcy, a connection that has been rejected 3 times by national courts, astir precocious successful April. The bankruptcies had enactment astir cases connected hold. Brown and Kent’s cases are the archetypal to spell to proceedings since the latest Chapter 11 effort was dismissed.
Before the bankruptcy attempts, J&J had a mixed grounds successful talc trials, with verdicts arsenic precocious arsenic $4.69 cardinal awarded to women who said babe pulverization caused their ovarian cancer. The institution has won immoderate trials outright and had different verdicts reduced connected appeal.
The bulk of lawsuits impact ovarian crab claims. Cases alleging talc caused a uncommon and deadly crab called mesothelioma marque up a smaller information of the claims J&J is facing. The institution has antecedently settled immoderate of those claims but has not struck a nationwide settlement, truthful galore lawsuits implicit mesothelioma person proceeded to proceedings successful authorities courts successful caller months.
In the past year, J&J has been deed with respective important verdicts successful mesothelioma cases, including 1 for much than $900 cardinal successful Los Angeles successful October.
