Johnson & Johnson must pay $18.8 million to a California man who said he developed cancer from exposure to its baby powder, a jury decided on Tuesday, a setback for the company as it seeks to settle thousands of similar cases over its talc-based products in US bankruptcy court.
The six-week trial was the first over talc that New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J has faced in almost two years.
Hernandez will not be able to collect the judgment in the foreseeable future, thanks to a bankruptcy court order freezing most litigation over J&J’s talc.
Jurors heard from Hernandez’s mother, Anna Camacho, who said she used large amounts of J&J’s baby powder on her son when he was a baby and through childhood.
Tens of thousands of plaintiffs have sued, alleging that J&J’s baby powder and other talc products sometimes contained asbestos and caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.
Persons:
Johnson, Emory Hernandez Valadez, Hernandez, Erik Haas, ”, Anna Camacho, Michael Kaplan, LTL, J
Organizations:
J, Reuters, View, LTL Management, LTL’s
Locations:
California, Oakland, Brunswick , New Jersey, Trenton , New Jersey