$417 million awarded as Johnson & Johnson loses case linking baby powder to cancer

Amount is largest sum awarded in series of talcum powder lawsuit verdicts against company

LOS ANGELES: Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Los Angeles jury to pay $417 million to a woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Eva Echeverria claimed in a lawsuit that the popular baby powder produced by the firm causes cancer when applied regularly for female hygiene. The amount ordered is the largest sum awarded in a series of talcum powder lawsuit verdicts against the company in courts across the United States.



Echeverria accused Johnson & Johnson of not issuing a prior warning for its consumers regarding the talcum powder’s health hazards. According to court papers, she had been using the powder regularly from the 1950s to 2016, and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007.

Echeverria developed cancer as a “proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of talcum powder,” she alleged in her lawsuit. Mark Robinson, Echeverria’s attorney, said that she was currently being treated for cancer while hospitalised, and hoped that the multinational would include warnings on its products in the future.

“Mrs Echeverria is dying from this ovarian cancer and she said to me all she wanted to do was to help the other women throughout the whole country who have ovarian cancer for using Johnson & Johnson for 20 and 30 years,” Robinson said.

“She really didn’t want sympathy,” he added. “She just wanted to get a message out to help these other women.”

According to Robinson, the jury’s award included $68 million in compensatory damages and $340 million in punitive damages. The evidence comprised of internal documents collected over decades that “showed the jury that Johnson & Johnson knew about the risks of talc and ovarian cancer,” Robinson said.



“Johnson & Johnson had many warning bells over a 30 year period but failed to warn the women who were buying its product,” he said.

Carol Goodrich, the spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson, said that the firm would appeal the jury’s verdict. She added that the company sympathises with ovarian cancer patients, but the safety of Johnson’s baby powder is backed by scientific evidence.

In May, $110.5 million was awarded to a woman in Virginia who became a victim of ovarian cancer in 2012. Three other trials in St Louis ended with similar verdicts, with juries awarding $72 million, $70.1 million and $55 million in damages, adding to a combined total of $307.6 million.

Another jury rejected allegations by a Tennessee woman who blamed talcum powder for her ovarian and uterine cancers. In New Jersey, two similar cases were rejected by a judge who reached the conclusion that the plaintiff’s lawyers had failed to present evidence linking talc to ovarian cancer.

Lawsuits of this nature have been filed by more than 1,000 people. Some have won cases for much lower amounts, indicating the wide latitude juries have in awarding damages.

Goodrich said that Johnson & Johnson was set to defend its products at upcoming trials in the US.

This story originally appeared on The Hindustan Times.