Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue Inc. were ordered to pay $45 million to the family of an Illinois woman who blamed the company’s baby powders for her terminal cancer, in the first verdict against the J&J spinoff in a decade-long lawsuit over the product.
Jurors in the Chicago case ruled late Friday that Kenvue was 70% liable for the death of Theresa Garcia, a mother of six and grandmother who died in 2020 after developing mesothelioma, a type of cancer linked to asbestos exposure.
The family claimed that J&J and Kenvue’s predecessor firm supplied talcum-based baby powder, knowing it was contaminated with asbestos
According to court documents, her family claimed that J&J and Kenvue’s predecessor firm supplied talcum-based baby powder knowing it was contaminated with asbestos.
The panel determined that J&J and one of its units were accountable for the remaining 30% of the verdict, marking one of the first victories for a talc plaintiff since a court last year threw out the bankruptcy filing of a J&J unit aimed at forcing a settlement of the talc cases.
A Florida jury rejected identical accusations against the firm on Thursday.
J&J has maintained that its talc-based products do not cause cancer and that its baby powder has been properly marketed for over a century.
Kenvue officials announced earlier this month that the company no longer manufactures or distributes talc-based baby powder. Before the split, J&J stated that it would phase out talc in North America in 2020 and globally by December 2023, replacing it with cornstarch. It cited declining sales as the reason for the move.
Erik Haas, the head of J&J’s in-house litigation unit, stated that the corporation would appeal the jury’s decision. “We expect to prevail as we typically do with aberrant adverse verdicts that have no basis in the law or science and are predicated on clearly erroneous rulings by the trial court,” Haas said in an emailed statement.
J&J raised $13.2 billion in cash through the issuance of Kenvue debt and the sale of its shares. Kenvue is now home to popular J&J items like Tylenol pain reliever, Listerine mouthwash, and a new cornstarch-based baby powder.
According to securities documents, as part of the spinoff, Kenvue obtained an indemnity agreement from J&J to cover any talc liability that may arise in North America. Kenvue must deal with talc verdicts issued by courts outside of the area, according to the files.
The plaintiff was a long-time user of J&J’s talc-based baby powder and used it on her children and grandkids
Garcia’s family was prepared to go to trial in 2021 when J&J’s LTL Management business filed its first Chapter 11 petition, attempting to facilitate a settlement of all current and future talc cases, according to Jessica Dean, the family’s attorney. Only after that case, as well as a second attempt to use bankruptcy courts to corral the talc litigation- was thrown out that the family was able to have a jury hear its case, Dean said.
“After years of delay caused by Johnson & Johnson’s bad faith abuse of the bankruptcy system,” the family is grateful jurors saw through the ‘deceptions’ put forth by J&J and Kenvue about whether talc can cause cancer, Dean said in a release. “The defendants knew that talc contains asbestos impurities that were mined and put in the bottles of baby powder J&J sold,” she added.
In the Florida case, a state court jury dismissed Patricia Matthey’s family’s claims that her 2016 ovarian cancer was caused by using asbestos-contaminated baby powder. After the verdict, Haas stated that the panel’s decision had vindicated the company.
“The jury appropriately found that talc is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer, which is the same outcome the company achieved in 16 of 17 ovarian cases tried to date,” Haas said in an emailed statement.
In Garcia’s Chicago case, her family claims the plaintiff was a long-time user of J&J’s talc-based baby powder and used it on her children and grandkids. The family contends J&J was aware of concerns regarding asbestos in their talc but neglected to tell customers. Garcia’s daughter, Stephanie Salcedo, filed the complaint on behalf of the family.
J&J knew that asbestos exposure, including asbestos exposure from inhaling asbestos-containing talc, can and does cause fatal diseases such as mesothelioma,” the family said in its lawsuit against the companies.
