Johnson & Johnson has recently lost a string of talcum powder lawsuit cases that have alleged that its flagship talc powder has caused cases of ovarian cancer. A California jury just handed the company its seventh loss in a talc powder lawsuit case. This particular jury awarded the plaintiff $29 million as compensation.
Talcum Powder lawsuit
Teresa Leavitt had sued Johnson & Johnson, alleging that her mesothelioma resulted from her use of the company’s talc baby powder. There has been a decades-long controversy over whether Johnson & Johnson’s product is an asbestos-laced carcinogen. Here, the woman claimed that she contracted mesothelioma, a disease that is linked with exposure to asbestos, after her long-term usage of the baby powder. The plaintiff also contended that the company hid the risks associated with the use of its a allegedly defective product.
Talcum powder and asbestos
Reports that Johnson & Johnson’s talc powder is laced with asbestos go all the way back to the 1950’s. This speculation intensified in the 1970s when several studies were published to this effect. Talc is a natural mineral that is found in rocks. Asbestos is often found alongside talc in these rocks. Sometimes, the two natural elements are even found intertwined together. When the talc is extracted from the rocks, it may contain trace amounts of asbestos. This is enough that it could possibly sicken someone who has prolonged exposure to talc. Mesothelioma is the lung cancer that results from asbestos exposure.
Vigorous scientific debate
Johnson & Johnson is alleged to have known as far back the 1970’s that its talc powder contained asbestos. The company has vehemently denied this and has commissioned studies of its own that argue that its talc powder is completely safe. This has led to a vigorous scientific debate, although there is great weight to the evidence of a connection between talc powder and cancer. The company has fought nearly every effort to find it liable for sickness that allegedly results from the use of talc powder, although it did settle one case brought against it this past December. As these seven trials have shown, the company could face a crushing legal liability should it accept responsibility for the plaintiffs’ illness.
Cancer is terminal
In this case, the plaintiff is a mother of two who had used Johnson & Johnson’s talc powder since childhood, but stopped using it over 20 years ago. She would even give herself “dry showers” with the talc powder. Now, she has mesothelioma and her cancer is terminal. Her doctors testified that she has less than two years to live. At trial, her lawyers presented evidence of recent lung tests that showed that Leavitt was exposed to asbestos, even though she had stopped using the talc powder two decades ago. The expert witness testifying for her ruled out the possibility that the asbestos was industrial grade, meaning that she could not have been exposed to it on the job.
Cancer and her exposure to asbestos
Leavitt’s Talcum powder lawsuit lawyer presented the evidence to jury about Johnson & Johnson’s alleged knowledge of the asbestos in the talc powder. The jury was shown internal company documents that detailed Johnson & Johnson’s knowledge of the two. However, Johnson & Johnson argued at trial that it was not responsible for the plaintiff’s cancer and her exposure to asbestos could have come from any one of a number of different sources.
The issues in this case involved whether the jury believed that the talc powder was linked to the plaintiff’s cancer and whether the company failed to warn the plaintiff of the linkage. Here, the jury found a connection between the powder and the cancer and that the company did indeed fail to warn of the linkage. Specifically, the jury found that there the usage of the talc powder was a “substantial contributing factor” to Leavitt’s cancer. The composition of the jury is notable since it featured both a lawyer and a state court judge.
Johnson & Johnson controlled entities
The talc powder jury apportioned 98 percent of the liability to Johnson & Johnson controlled entities. The talcum powder lawsuit jury is able to make a determination of how much liability they believe that each defendant should bear. The other two percent of the liability was apportioned to a former talc supplier to the company.
Asbestos in the talc powder
After the case, several talcum powder lawsuit jurors made statements that showed that it doubted the accuracy of Johnson & Johnson’s defense. One juror stated that, based on what she heard and saw at trial, she would no longer buy Johnson & Johnson’s talc powder. Another Talc powder lawuit juror said that, although she did not believe that the plaintiff proved that talc powder caused the cancer, the company should have followed up when studies showed that there was asbestos in the talc powder.
J& J alleged trial judge made several errors
After the verdict, Johnson & Johnson claimed that the trial judge made several errors during the course of the trial that harmed its defense and aided the plaintiff. The company claimed that the judge make mistakes in admitting certain evidence which should have resulted in a mistrial. The company plans to appeal this verdict based on the errors that it believes the judge made. Johnson & Johnson has had some success either getting verdicts thrown out entirely or having them reduced upon appeal.
Warning on the baby powder bottle?
Currently, Johnson & Johnson is facing over 13,000 lawsuits relating to its talc powder and cancer. The number of lawsuits against the company continues to rise as more suits are filed. The company has lost several high-profile verdicts that found it liable for the plaintiffs’ cancer. Last year, the company lost a lawsuit in which the jury awarded 22 plaintiffs a total of $4.69 billion in damages for their cancer. The company also lost a case in California that resulted in a $27.5 million verdict. The jury in that case specifically asked the judge to order that Johnson & Johnson include a warning on the baby powder bottle stating the risk for cancer, but the judge declined to do so.
5 billion verdict
More of these cases will soon be going to trial. In addition, there will be appeals of the verdicts that Johnson & Johnson lost. In addition, there are several more cases set to go to trial in state court in Missouri. This is the venue in which Johnson & Johnson was hit with the nearly $5 billion verdict. There are also numerous other cases in New York’s asbestos court that are set to go to trial in 2019. The company has indicated that it plans to vigorously defend against those cases, and that its settlement in that court was a “one-off” occurrence. However, the New York court has a reputation as being plaintiff-friendly, so more headlines about this litigation may be coming out this year.
