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Johnson & Johnson had to pay damages in cancer-causing powder case
BEACON TRANSCRIPT – A court in Missouri decided that Johnson & Johnson should pay over $110 million, as a woman claimed to have developed ovarian cancer after using their talcum powder for more than 40 years. This was the fifth trial concerning the safety of their product.
Virginia woman blames Johnson & Johnson powder for giving her cancer
Lois Slemp, a woman from Virginia, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012. Since then, the cancer reemerged and reached her liver. She claimed that the J&J talcum powder was responsible with the disease, as she has been using it for a big part of her life.
Therefore, she decided to file a lawsuit against the company, as well as on their supplier. The products she blamed are J&J Shower to Shower Powder and Baby Powder. This is not the first time when the company is accused of not informing the customers regarding the cancer risk these products expose them to.
The company was found guilty and has to pay damages
However, this is the biggest verdict concerning this issue. It has been ruled in St. Louis, where many other lawsuits are under progress. This is the fifth trial in this court. Of the other four, three found the company guilty and offered verdicts worth $197 million. However, they won one trial, which took place at the beginning of 2017.
The company does not agree with the verdicts. Carol Goodrich, the spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson, declared that the company sympathized with the victims, but they would appeal against the lost trials.
Also, the verdict found J&J 99 percent responsible for the cancer cases, while the supplier, Imerys, is only one percent responsible. Thus, the jury decided that the company should pay damages worth $5.4 million. Besides, they must also pay $105 million in punitive damages. Imerys is not completely free from charges, as they also have to pay punitive damages of $50,000.
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