California Jury Hits J&J in Talc Powder Case for $347 Million

A California jury awarded $417 million to the plaintiff in the first talcum powder case to go to trial in California. The Los Angeles County jury reached the verdict, which includes $347 million in punitive damages, on August 21 against Johnson & Johnson and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. The trial lasted four weeks and the jury deliberated for more than two days. The jury awarded roughly $70 million in compensatory damages.

The plaintiff’s theory of the case was that there was a link between Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder products and ovarian cancer. The award surpassed large awards from earlier trials in Missouri.

The jury found that J&J had failed to warn consumers about the increased risk of ovarian cancer caused by its Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products, and that the plaintiff, Eva Echeverria’s terminal ovarian cancer was caused by her use of those products. Some of the claims included the defendants refusal to place a warning on its products. Echeverria’s lawyers showed jurors evidence that talcum powder products made by national companies like Wal-Mart are now sold with a warning about the association between genital talc use and ovarian cancer.

The Defendants have indicated that they will appeal the verdict.

Echeverria filed suit with six other women in Los Angeles County Superior Court in July 2016, alleging that for years she used talcum powder mined by Imerys Talc America Inc. and sold by J&J, and that she developed ovarian cancer in 2007. Echeverria is the first plaintiff to head to trial among nearly 300 cases in the complex litigation consolidating California claims against the companies. There are an estimated 4,500 other cases pending throughout the country.

J&J’s defense during the trial focused heavily on calling into doubt how Echeverria’s experts were interpreting the scientific evidence that purported to show genital talc use caused ovarian cancer. However, the plaintiff showed, by Johnson & Johnson's own documents, dating back to 1964, that the company knew there was a risk of ovarian cancer from using talcum powder for feminine hygiene. The plaintiff’s also cited a 1982 study that shows women who used talc on their genitals were at a 92% increased risk for ovarian cancer. The lead researcher, Daniel W. Cramer, later advised Johnson & Johnson to put a warning label on the product.

The plaintiff put on evidence to show that Echevarria used Johnson Baby Powder sometimes twice a day for 41 years, continuing to do so even after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007. Ovarian cancer accounts for 1.3% of all new cancer cases in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute. But it is the eighth most common cancer and the fifth-leading cause of cancer-related death among women. Fewer than half of all patients survive five years after a diagnosis.

A St. Louis jury in May awarded $110.5 million to a Virginia woman who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012. Three other juries in St. Louis reached similar conclusions, awarding a total of more than $300 million to the plaintiffs.

Booth Samuels and the attorneys at Pittman, Dutton & Hellums, P.C. are currently accepting talc-injury cases. If you or someone you love is a female that regularly used J&J Baby Powder or Shower to Shower and, since the year 2000, have been diagnosed with any of the above forms of cancer, please contact Booth Samuels at 1-866-515-8880 or by email at booths@pittmandutton.com for a free consultation.