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 The Los Angeles Superior Court jury's verdict in favor of California
resident Eva Echeverria was the largest yet in lawsuits alleging J&J
failed to adequately warn consumers about the cancer risks of its
talc-based products.
"We are grateful for the jury's verdict on this matter and that Eva
Echeverria was able to have her day in court," Mark Robinson, her
lawyer, said in a statement.
The verdict included $70 million in compensatory damages and $347
million in punitive damages. It was a major setback for J&J, which
faces 4,800 similar claims nationally and has been hit with over
$300 million in verdicts by juries in Missouri.
"We will appeal today's verdict because we are guided by the
science, which supports the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder," J&J
said.
Echeverria's lawsuit was the first out of hundreds of California
talc cases to go to trial.
The 63-year-old claimed she developed terminal ovarian cancer after
decades of using J&J's products. Her lawyers argued J&J encouraged
women to use its products despite knowing of studies linking ovarian
cancer to genital talc use.
J&J's lawyers countered that studies and federal agencies have not
found that talc products are carcinogenic.
The trial follows five prior ones in Missouri state court, where
many lawsuits are pending.
J&J lost four of those trials and, along with a talc supplier, has
been hit with $307 million in verdicts. Before Monday, the largest
verdict was for $110 million.
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The Missouri cases, which have largely been brought by out-of-state
plaintiffs, have faced jurisdictional questions after the U.S.
Supreme Court issued a ruling in June that limited where personal
injury lawsuits can be filed.
In a decision in a case involving Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, the
Supreme Court said state courts cannot hear claims against companies
that are not based in the state when the alleged injuries did not
occur there.
The ruling prompted a St. Louis judge, at New Jersey-based J&J's
urging, to declare a mistrial in the talc case already underway.
The judge has nonetheless left the door open for the plaintiffs to
argue they still have jurisdiction based on a Missouri-based bottler
J&J used to package its products.
The case is Echeverria et al v. Johnson & Johnson, Los Angeles
Superior Court, No. BC628228.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Matthew Lewis and
Paul Simao)
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