On October 7th local time, a jury in the Los Angeles County Court ruled that Johnson&Johnson must pay $966 million (approximately RMB 6.88 billion) in compensation to the family of a woman who died of mesothelioma, and found that its talc powder products were carcinogenic, and the company should bear corresponding responsibility. This is the latest ruling against the cancer charge of Johnson&Johnson talcum powder products.
It is reported that the deceased, May Moore, was a resident of California, USA. He passed away in 2021 at the age of 88 due to the rare cancer mesothelioma. This disease is usually associated with long-term exposure to asbestos. His family sued Johnson&Johnson in the same year, accusing their baby powder products of containing asbestos fibers, which caused Moore to develop cancer.
According to court documents, the jury ordered Johnson&Johnson to pay $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages.
Johnson&Johnson will appeal the highest compensation award in 15 years
It is understood that this is the highest amount of compensation received by a single plaintiff in the 15 year lawsuit against Ziqiang Sheng talc powder. However, the compensation amount may be reduced after Johnson&Johnson's appeal. According to the relevant ruling of the United States Supreme Court, punitive damages typically cannot exceed nine times the amount of compensatory damages.
In response, Eric Haas, Vice President of Global Litigation at Johnson&Johnson, stated in a statement that the company plans to immediately file an appeal and called the ruling "extreme and unconstitutional". He also accused the plaintiff's lawyer of "citing pseudoscientific evidence that should not have been presented to the jury" in the Moore case.
Johnson&Johnson reiterated that its products are "safe, asbestos free, and do not cause cancer". The company pointed out that as early as 2020, it had stopped selling baby powder containing talcum powder in the United States and switched to a corn starch formula. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer typically associated with long-term exposure to asbestos.
The plaintiff's legal team cited internal documents from Johnson&Johnson to refute that the company had known as early as the 1970s that its talcum powder may contain asbestos, but did not disclose the risk to the public. Lawyer Trey Branhan, representing the Moore family, stated after the verdict that his team "hopes that Johnson&Johnson will ultimately take responsibility for these avoidable tragedies.
