Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) will have to pay $966M after a jury in Los Angeles issued a verdict in favor of a woman who claimed that the pharma giant’s talc-based baby powder caused her to develop a rare cancer called mesothelioma.
The jury ordered J&J (NYSE:JNJ) to pay $16M in compensatory damages and $950M in punitive damages on Monday in a lawsuit filed by the family of Mae Moore, who died in 2021 from mesothelioma after allegedly using the company’s asbestos-containing talc baby powder.
The New Jersey-based company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments, including whether it plans to appeal the ruling.
Talc-related liabilities have been a major headwind for J&J (NYSE:JNJ) over the past few years. In April, a federal judge in Texas denied the company’s third attempt to resolve the claims through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy of a specially created unit established to settle the cases, mainly related to ovarian cancer.