USA: California jury awards $29 million to woman claiming Johnson & Johnson’s talcum-powder-based products caused her cancer
"Woman awarded $29m in damages in Johnson & Johnson cancer case", 14 Mar 2019
A California jury has awarded $29m to a woman who said asbestos in Johnson & Johnson’s talcum-powder-based products caused her cancer...
Wednesday’s verdict, in California superior court in Oakland, marks the latest defeat for the healthcare conglomerate facing more than 13,000 talc-related lawsuits nationwide...
The company said it would appeal, citing “serious procedural and evidentiary errors” during the trial, saying lawyers for the woman had fundamentally failed to show its baby powder contains asbestos. The company did not provide further details of the alleged errors.
“We respect the legal process and reiterate that jury verdicts are not medical, scientific or regulatory conclusions about a product,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement...
The lawsuit was brought by Terry Leavitt, who said she used Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower – another powder containing talc sold in the past – in the 1960s and 1970s and was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2017. It was the first of more than a dozen talc cases against the company scheduled for trial in 2019. The nine-week trial began on 7 January and included testimony from nearly a dozen experts on both sides...