Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $15M in baby powder cancer case

Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $15 million to a Connecticut man who claims he developed a rare form of cancer, mesothelioma, after using the company’s baby powder for decades. The jury in Fairfield County, Connecticut, on Tuesday, Oct. 15, found that the talc in the baby powder, which the man says he inhaled regularly, caused his illness. The jury also ruled that Johnson & Johnson should pay additional punitive damages, which will be determined by the judge later.

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The plaintiff, Evan Plotkin, sued Johnson & Johnson in 2021 after being diagnosed with mesothelioma. His legal team argued that the talc powder was contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen, leading to his illness.

Johnson & Johnson plans to appeal the decision, with the company’s vice president of litigation, Erik Haas, stating that “erroneous rulings” by the judge prevented the jury from hearing critical facts that would have shown the talc is safe. Haas cited decades of scientific evaluations that found no evidence of asbestos in their products.

This ruling comes as Johnson & Johnson faces more than 62,000 lawsuits related to claims that its talc-based products caused ovarian and other cancers. The company is currently pursuing a nearly $9 billion settlement plan to resolve the majority of these cases through bankruptcy, though mesothelioma claims, like Plotkin’s, are not part of the proposed settlement. Johnson & Johnson withdrew its talc-based baby powder from the U.S. market in 2020, globally in 2022, but maintains that the products are safe and do not cause cancer.