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Bottles of Johnson's baby powder are displayed in a store in New York City, U.S., January 22, 2019. Brendan McDermid/Reuters/File
A California jury has ruled that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) must pay $18.8 million in damages to Emory Hernandez Valadez, a 24-year-old California man who claimed he developed mesothelioma, a deadly cancer, due to prolonged exposure to the company's talc-based baby powder since childhood. The six-week trial marked the first talc-related case for J&J in nearly two years.
While the jury found in favor of Hernandez, it declined to award punitive damages against the company. However, due to a bankruptcy court order that freezes most litigation over J&J's talc products, Hernandez will not be able to collect the judgment in the foreseeable future. J&J plans to appeal the verdict, maintaining that the company's talc products are safe, asbestos-free, and do not cause cancer, aligning with decades of independent scientific evaluations.
During the trial, J&J's lawyers argued that there was no evidence linking Hernandez's mesothelioma to asbestos or proving that he had been exposed to tainted talc. In contrast, Hernandez's lawyers accused J&J of concealing asbestos contamination over several decades.
In his testimony, Hernandez stated that he would have avoided J&J's talc if he had been informed of its potential asbestos content. His mother, Anna Camacho, tearfully described using large amounts of J&J's baby powder on Hernandez during his childhood.
Tens of thousands of plaintiffs have sued J&J, alleging that their talc-based products, including baby powder, contained asbestos and led to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. J&J's subsidiary, LTL Management, filed for bankruptcy in April to resolve over 38,000 lawsuits and prevent new claims, offering $8.9 billion in settlements. Chief Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan allowed Hernandez's trial to proceed due to his short life expectancy, as his form of mesothelioma is extremely rare compared to other pending cases against J&J.
Asbestos plaintiffs are seeking the dismissal of LTL's bankruptcy filing, arguing that it was brought in bad faith to shield the company from litigation. J&J contends that bankruptcy offers a fairer and more efficient way to deliver settlement payouts to plaintiffs compared to trial courts, which can result in unpredictable outcomes.
According to J&J's bankruptcy court filings, the company has incurred approximately $4.5 billion in costs related to talc-related verdicts, settlements, and legal fees.
