Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a St. Louis jury to pay more than $110 million to a Virginia woman who says her ovarian cancer was caused by the company’s talcum powder products. Imerys Talc America, the company that provided the talc to J&J, was also ordered by the jury to pay about $100,000.
Plaintiff Lois Slemp, 62, said she used J&J’s baby powder and Shower to Shower talc products for more than 40 years before her diagnosis with ovarian cancer in 2012. J&J didn’t warn women of studies linking talc to ovarian cancer to protect the company’s image, one of Slemp's attorneys told jurors.
Johnson & Johnson Accused of Failing to Warn the Public
There are thousands of lawsuits nationwide accusing Johnson & Johnson of ignoring scientific studies linking its baby powder and Shower to Shower products to ovarian cancer. The lawsuits allege that the company failed to warn customers about the risk of using talc-based products.
The $110 million verdict is the eighth-largest jury award in the U.S. so far in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. J&J plans to appeal the verdict, just as it has appealed its other losses. A spokesperson for the company said that they "will continue to defend the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder."
The case is Slemp v. Johnson & Johnson, 1422-CC09326, Circuit Court, City of St. Louis, Missouri.
Sources: stltoday.com and bloomberg.com