The Los Angeles Times reports that an Oakland, California, jury has ruled that Johnson & Johnson “must pay $29 million to a dying California woman who blamed asbestos-tainted talc for causing her cancer.”
The jury said that J&J’s baby ;powder was responsible for Teresa Leavitt’s mesothelioma, which is “a cancer linked to asbestos exposure,” and that the company should’ve warned Leavitt “that its baby powder was tainted with the carcinogen.”
It is just the latest talc-related loss for J&J: “The verdict is J&J’s seventh trial loss over claims it hid the health risks of its baby powder for 50 years. It’s the company’s first defeat since a Missouri jury ordered it last year to pay $4.69 billion to 22 women who blamed their cancer on the product.”
And the situation isn’t likely to get better - the Times points out that “J&J still faces more than 13,000 lawsuits.”
The jury said that J&J’s baby ;powder was responsible for Teresa Leavitt’s mesothelioma, which is “a cancer linked to asbestos exposure,” and that the company should’ve warned Leavitt “that its baby powder was tainted with the carcinogen.”
It is just the latest talc-related loss for J&J: “The verdict is J&J’s seventh trial loss over claims it hid the health risks of its baby powder for 50 years. It’s the company’s first defeat since a Missouri jury ordered it last year to pay $4.69 billion to 22 women who blamed their cancer on the product.”
And the situation isn’t likely to get better - the Times points out that “J&J still faces more than 13,000 lawsuits.”
- KC's View:
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Yikes. Thirteen thousand lawsuits?
Somehow, it seems unlikely that anyone at J&J is able to keep his or her powder dry these days.
