Johnson & Johnson loses $70m talcum powder cancer case

Consumer goods firm Johnson & Johnson has lost a third straight trial over claims its talcum powder can cause ovarian cancer with a jury awarding a Californian woman more than $70 million (€64.1 million).

The company is accused in about 1,700 lawsuits in state and federal court of ignoring studies linking its baby powder and Shower-to-Shower talc products to ovarian cancer and failing to warn customers about the risk.

The verdict in follows damages verdicts of $72 million (€66 million) and $55 million (€50.4 million) against the company this year in the first two talc claims to go to trial in St Louis.

Both are being appealed.

Deborah Giannecchini (62) used Johnson & Johnson baby powder for feminine hygiene for more than four decades until her diagnosis with ovarian cancer three years ago, her lawyers said.

She has an 80 per cent chance of dying in the next two years, and has undergone surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the lawyers said.

A unit of the company was ordered to pay $65 million (€59.5 million) in punitive damages and 90 per cent of about $2.5 million (€2.3 million) for medical costs and pain and suffering.

Co-defendant Imerys Talc America, the supplier of the talc, was hit with $2.5 million in punitive damages. Jurors returned the verdict after deliberating for about three hours.

The company should have provided a warning label on the product to let consumers decide whether to use talc, one juror Billie Ray (76) of St Louis, said after the trial.

“It seemed like Johnson & Johnson didn’t pay attention,” she said. “It seemed like they didn’t care.”

Ms Giannecchini appeared overwhelmed by the verdict.

“I’ve waited for a long time for this,” she said. “I’ve wanted this so badly.”

Johnson & Johnson will appeal the verdict, its spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said. “We are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder.”

Imerys was “disappointed’’ with the verdict, its spokesman, Dan Rene, said. Imerys had been cleared in the two prior St Louis trials, as well as in two claims dismissed in New Jersey, he said in a statement.

“This verdict serves to undermine efforts by the scientific community to determine the true causes of ovarian cancer,’’ Mr Rene said. “The theories relied upon by plaintiffs’ experts lacked scientific foundation.’’

JandJ is facing hundreds of claims in St. Louis state court, which has become a magnet for plaintiffs’ product defect claims, as well as about 300 suits in Los Angeles, another 200 in New Jersey and a growing number of federal cases combined before one judge in that state.

Bloomberg