Juries Award Multi-Millions in Talcum Powder Suits This Year

Jury Awards $55 Million in St. Louis Ovarian Cancer Trial – May 2016

A St. Louis, Missouri jury slapped Johnson and Johnson with a multi-million dollar verdict after a woman claimed their Talcum Powder products gave her ovarian cancer.  This is the pharmacy giant’s second multi-million dollar trial loss this year.

The plaintiff used Johnson and Johnson’s talc-based products for feminine hygiene for about 40 years and a doctor diagnosed her with ovarian cancer in 2011. She was forced to undergo a hysterectomy. Jurors awarded her with $5 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages after finding Johnson and Johnson liable for her injuries and guilty of hiding the risks. Punitive damages are designed to punish the defendant for their wrongdoing, while compensatory damages are the jury’s evaluation of the plaintiff’s damages for pain and suffering.

Jury Awards $72 Million in February 2016

A Missouri jury awarded $72 Million to the family of an Alabama woman who died from ovarian cancer, which she said was used by using Johnson and Johnson’s well known baby powder and other products containing talcum. This verdict included $10 million in actual damages and $62 million in punitive damages.

At trial, the plaintiff’s attorneys introduced a September 1997 internal memo from a Johnson & Johnson medical consultant suggesting that “‘anybody who denies (the) risks’ between ‘hygienic’ talc use and ovarian cancer will be publicly perceived in the same light as those who denied a link between smoking cigarettes and cancer: ‘denying the obvious in the face of all evidence to the contrary.'”

In other words, Johnson and Johnson have known that their talc products could cause reproductive cancer ten years ago, but did not do anything about it or attempt to warn consumers.

Johnson and Johnson Faces Thousands of Lawsuits 

Since February, the company faces more than 1,000 state and federal lawsuits saying it ignored evidence linking its Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower talc-based products to ovarian and other types of cancer.

In May 2009, a coalition of groups called the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics began pushing Johnson & Johnson to eliminate questionable ingredients from its baby and adult personal care products. After three years of petitions, negative publicity and a boycott threat, the company agreed in 2012 to eliminate the ingredients 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, both considered probable human carcinogens, from all products by 2015.

ChurchWyble, P.C. is investigating cases involving cancer caused by Talcum powder, along with all types of injury cases. We’ve been in the business of protecting the rights of injured people since 1951. Contact us for a free consultation.

Enjoy the Weekend

The staff at ChurchWyble wishes our readers and followers a nice Memorial Day. Please enjoy your weekend, and please take a moment to give thanks and remembrance for those who have served our country. Remember why we celebrate!

P.S.- For my regular readers, we were fortunate to reach a settlement, so there will be no trial in Lenawee County next week.