Johnson & Johnson under fire: Company ordered to pay $72M in cancer suit

Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Missouri state jury to pay $72 million in damages to the family of a woman whose death from ovarian cancer was linked to her use of the company’s talc-based Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for several decades. Jurors awarded the family of Jacqueline Fox $10 million of actual damages and $62 million of punitive damages, according to the family’s lawyers and court records. The verdict is the first by a U.S. jury to award damages over the claims, the lawyers said.

We have no higher responsibility than the health and safety of consumers, and we are disappointed with the outcome of the trial. We sympathize with the plaintiff’s family but firmly believe the safety of cosmetic talc is supported by decades of scientific evidence.

Carol Goodrich, a Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman

Johnson & Johnson faces claims that in an effort to boost sales, it failed for decades to warn consumers that its talc-based products could cause cancer. Fox said she used Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for feminine hygiene for more than 35 years before being diagnosed three years ago with ovarian cancer. She died in October at age 62. Jurors found Johnson & Johnson liable for fraud, negligence and conspiracy, the family’s lawyers said. Trials in several other talc lawsuits have been set for later this year, according to Danielle Mason, who also represented Fox’s family at trial.

[Johnson & Johnson] knew as far back as the 1980s of the risk, [and yet resorted to] lying to the public [and] lying to the regulatory agencies.

Jere Beasley, a lawyer for Fox’s family

Johnson and Johnson