Johnson and Johnson’s ordered to pay $18.8 million to man who got cancer from baby powder
This marks a setback for the company as they try to resolve thousands of similar cases in the bankruptcy court
A jury in California ordered the company Johnson and Johnson’s to pay $18.8 million to a man who got cancer from exposure to its baby powder. This marks a huge setback for the company as they try to resolve thousands of similar cases in the bankruptcy court over its talc-based products in the United States.
The jury ruled in the favour of Hernandez Valadez, who filed suit last year in California state court in Oakland against Johnson and Johnson’s seeking monetary damages. He said that he had developed Mesothelioma, a deadly cancer around the tissues of the heart due to long exposure to the company’s talc since childhood. While the jury did award the man damages to compensate him for his medical bills and pain and suffering, they declined to award punitive damages. However, Hernandez will not be able to collect his damages in the foreseeable future due to a bankruptcy court order freezing most litigation over J&J’s talc.
In the closing arguments on July 10, the lawyers for Johnson and Johnson’s had said that there is no evidence that link Hernandez’s Mesothelioma to asbestos or that Hernandez was ever exposed to the talc. On the other hand, Hernandez’s lawyers during their closing arguments accused Johnson and Johnson’s of a despicable decades long coverup of asbestos contamination.
J&J vice president of litigation Erik Haas said in a statement that the company would appeal the verdict, calling it “irreconcilable with the decades of independent scientific evaluations confirming Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”
Tens of thousands of people have filed lawsuits complaining that Johnson and Johnson’s baby powder and other talc products sometimes contained asbestos and caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. The company has, however, refuted these claims and has said that its products are safe and do not contain any such ingredients which can cause cancer.
Most litigation has been halted during bankruptcy proceedings, but U.S. Chief Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan, who is overseeing LTL’s Chapter 11, let Hernandez’s trial proceed because he is expected to live only a short time. Hernandez’s form of mesothelioma is extremely rare, making his case different from the vast majority pending against J&J, thus making him an exception. Johnson and Johnson’s said in bankruptcy court filings that the costs of its talc-related verdicts, settlements and legal fees have reached about $4.5 billion.
