Jury Returns Verdict of $72 Million In the Death of Woman Who Used J&J Baby Powder

Parker Waichman LLP, a national law firm dedicated to protecting the rights of consumers affected by defective products, is commenting that a St. Louis jury just returned a $72 million verdict in the wrongful death of a 62-year-old woman who died of ovarian cancer. The jury found the women’s use of talc-based products manufactured by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) contributed to her cancer. The case is Hogans et al v. Johnson & Johnson et al, Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, Missouri, No. 1422-CC09012. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., which is now the owner of the Shower to Shower brand, was not a defendant in the case.

The trial lasted three weeks and was presided over by the Honorable Rex Burlison and Special Master, Honorable Glenn Norton, retired. The St. Louis jury awarded $10 million in actual and $62 million in punitive damages against J&J. No award was made against Imerys, the mining company that supplied the raw talc to J&J. Imerys began warning J&J in 2005 of the cancer risk associated with the raw talc it supplied, according to the lawsuit.

The woman used J&J’s talc-based Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for a number of decades, according to a February 24, 2016 Reuters report. It was alleged that the deceased woman, a former resident of Birmingham, Alabama, used Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for feminine hygiene for over 35 years. She was diagnosed three years ago with ovarian cancer and died in October 2015; she was 62 years of age.

This verdict is the first by a United States jury to award damages over these claims. Meanwhile, J&J faces another 1,000 cases filed in Missouri state court and 200 filed in New Jersey. Claims against J&J include that it neglected, for decades, to warn consumers that its talc-based products could cause cancer and did this to increase sales. The jury found J&J liable for fraud, negligence, and conspiracy; deliberations lasted only four hours. In October 2013, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota federal jury found that a woman’s use of Johnson & Johnson's body powder products was a factor in her ovarian cancer. Trials in a number of other talc lawsuits have been scheduled for 2016, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Cambridge professor, Paul Pharoah, Professor of Cancer Epidemiology at Cambridge, said it was “biologically plausible” that the use of talcum powder likely raises risks for ovarian cancer, according to The Telegraph. Pharoah said that grains of talcum could enter a woman’s fallopian tubes, causing inflammation in the ovaries, which could lead to disease. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/12172138/Talcum-powder-probably-does-raise-risk-of-ovarian-cancer-says-Cambridge-professor.html)

The Telegraph pointed out that J&J did not warn consumers of the potential dangers associated with genital talcum powder use, despite concerns raised by the American Cancer Society in 1999.

If you or a someone you know have been diagnosed with ovarian or endometrial cancer following feminine use of Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder or Shower to Shower products, or other talcum powder products, you may have valuable legal rights. Please visit Parker Waichman’s Talcum Cancer Injury page today or call our Talcum Cancer Injury attorneys at 1-800-LAW-INFO (1-800-529-4636).