A jury in Los Angeles Superior Court awarded $40 million to two women who filed lawsuits alleging that Johnson & Johnson’s talcum-based baby powder led to their ovarian cancer after decades of use.
Jurors issued a verdict on Dec. 12 after a trial involving the lawsuits by Monica Kent and Deborah Schultz, and her husband, Dr. Albert Schultz. The jury ruled that the company failed to warn consumers about the known dangers of its talc-based products and ordered it to pay $18 million in compensatory damages to Kent and $22 million to Schultz.
Andy Birchfield, lead trial counsel for the plaintiffs, said the jury was presented with testimony that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) “withheld crucial information, manipulated scientific research and misled regulators for decades.”
Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said in a statement that the company plans to “immediately appeal this verdict“ and that it expects to prevail as it usually does with ”aberrant adverse verdicts.”
The plaintiffs’ legal team said the four-week trial featured testimony from former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, who testified that J&J was aware that its baby powder contained asbestos and hid that information for more than five decades. Kessler led the administration from 1990 to 1997 under two presidential administrations.
Medical experts also testified during the trial about the scientific evidence supporting claims that the use of talc-based products was a contributing factor in the plaintiffs’ ovarian cancer, according to the statement.
“That testimony included the introduction of peer-reviewed studies demonstrating that frequent genital use of talc increases the risk of ovarian cancer by at least 50 [percent], with consistent long-term use potentially doubling that risk,” the plaintiffs’ legal team stated.
Kent was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014, and Schultz was diagnosed in 2018, according to court filings. Both women are California residents who say they used J&J’s baby powder after bathing for 40 years. Their treatments for ovarian cancer have involved major surgeries and dozens of rounds of chemotherapy, they testified at the trial.
Their cases are among thousands of lawsuits filed against J&J by other consumers who claimed they were diagnosed with cancer after using the company’s baby powder and talc products.
J&J has denied the claims, saying that its products are safe and asbestos-free. J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the United States in 2020 and switched to a cornstarch product.
