Johnson & Johnson to pay $40M to 2 ovarian cancer patients after using brand’s talcum powders
A Los Angeles jury on Friday awarded $40 million to two women who said they developed ovarian cancer after using talcum powder products made by Johnson & Johnson.
The healthcare giant quickly pushed back, announcing plans to appeal both the jury’s finding of liability and the damages awarded.
The decision marks another chapter in the long-running legal fight over allegations that talc used in Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower body powder was linked to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma — a rare cancer affecting the lungs and other organs. Johnson & Johnson discontinued the sale of talc-based powders worldwide in 2023.
Just months earlier, in October, a separate California jury ordered the company to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died from mesothelioma. That case centered on claims that asbestos contamination in baby powder caused her illness.
In the latest trial, jurors awarded $18 million to Monica Kent and $22 million to Deborah Schultz and her husband. Their attorney, Daniel Robinson of the Robinson Calcagnie law firm in Newport Beach, said the women trusted the brand for decades.
“The only thing they did was be loyal to Johnson & Johnson as a customer for 50 years,” Robinson said. “That loyalty was a one-way street.”
Johnson & Johnson maintained that the verdict runs counter to scientific evidence. Erik Haas, the company’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said in a statement that J&J had prevailed in “16 of the 17 ovarian cancer cases it previously tried” and expressed confidence the ruling would be overturned on appeal.
Haas described the jury’s conclusions as “irreconcilable with decades of independent scientific evaluations” that, according to the company, show talc is safe, asbestos-free, and does not cause cancer.
In response to declining sales, Johnson & Johnson replaced talc with cornstarch in its baby powder products sold across most of North America in 2020.
Earlier this year, in April, a U.S. bankruptcy court judge rejected the company’s proposed $9 billion settlement plan intended to resolve thousands of ovarian and other gynecological cancer claims tied to talc-based products.
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