A jury in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday awarded $20 million to the family of a physician who died in 2022, finding that his mesothelioma was caused by his longtime use of Johnson & Johnson talcum powder.
Internal company documents and expert witnesses suggested that Johnson & Johnson knew of asbestos risk in talc products, used tests that were less likely to detect asbestos, and elected not to replace talc with alternatives, such as cornstarch, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a statement Tuesday.
“This outcome reaffirms the ongoing accountability of manufacturers for decades-old products that have long-term health ramifications for consumers,” the Levin Papantonio law firm said.
The verdict came three weeks after a Los Angeles jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died from mesothelioma. The number of lawsuits alleging the company’s famous baby powder causes cancer and other diseases has jumped 17% after J&J’s push for a global settlement was thrown out of bankruptcy court. Altogether, the manufacturer now faces more than 73,000 lawsuits.
The talc product was discontinued in 2023 and was replaced with a cornstarch substitute, according to news reports. J&J has maintained that talc doesn’t cause cancer and that its baby powder has never contained any asbestos. The company also says it has appropriately marketed the product for more than a century.
In the Florida case, the amended complaint, in 2019, said that the physician used J&J talcum powder regularly, from the late 1960s until 2018. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2017, the result of years of inhaling asbestos in the powder, the suit alleged.
Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest global corporations, is mostly self-insured for product liability claims. It utilizes its own captive insurance company, Middlesex Assurance Co., according to news reports.
Related: J&J Talc Cancer Suits Rise 17% After Failed Settlement Push
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