A bottle of Johnson and Johnson child powder. File {photograph}
| Photograph Credit score: REUTERS

Johnson & Johnson should pay USD 15 million to a Connecticut man who alleges that he developed mesothelioma, a uncommon type of most cancers, on account of utilizing the corporate’s talc powder for many years, a jury discovered on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.

Plaintiff Evan Plotkin sued the corporate in 2021 quickly after his prognosis, saying he was sickened by inhaling J&J’s child powder.

The jury in Fairfield County, Connecticut Superior Court docket additionally discovered that the corporate ought to pay further punitive damages, which can be decided later by the decide overseeing the case.

“Evan Plotkin and his trial crew are thrilled {that a} jury as soon as once more determined to carry Johnson & Johnson accountable for his or her advertising and marketing and sale of a child powder product that they knew contained asbestos,” Ben Braly, a lawyer for Plotkin, mentioned in an e mail.

Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide vp of litigation, mentioned in a press release that the corporate would enchantment “faulty” rulings by the trial decide that stored the jury from listening to essential details in regards to the case.

“These details present that the decision is irreconcilable with the many years of unbiased scientific evaluations confirming talc is secure, doesn’t include asbestos and doesn’t trigger most cancers,” Haas mentioned.

Tuesday’s verdict comes as J&J seeks to resolve claims by greater than 62,000 individuals who say that they acquired ovarian and different gynecological cancers from talc via a virtually $9 billion settlement in chapter.

The chapter deal, which faces authorized challenges from some plaintiffs’ legal professionals, has put the lawsuits over gynecological cancers on maintain, however doesn’t have an effect on the a lot smaller variety of mesothelioma claims like Plotkin’s. The corporate has beforehand settled a few of these claims however has not proposed a nationwide settlement.

Plaintiffs in the entire lawsuits say that J&J’s talc merchandise, like its as soon as iconic child powder, have been tainted with asbestos, a carcinogen identified to trigger mesothelioma and different cancers.

J&J withdrew its talc-based powder merchandise from the U.S. market in 2020.

Reuters watched the decision announcement via Courtroom View Community.