A court-designated special master has recommended that plaintiffs accusing Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) of marketing talc-based baby powder and other products that caused their ovarian cancer be allowed to present supporting testimony from experts at a trial.
The decision by retired U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson allows the cases filed by thousands of women against the pharma giant to advance toward the first trial in the federal court in New Jersey, where more than 67,500 lawsuits are consolidated.
U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton, New Jersey, appointed Wolfson as special master to help him evaluate whether expert testimony should be allowed at trial, which is expected to begin later this year, according to Reuters.
“I find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the Plaintiffs’ experts have applied reliable methodologies to arrive at their opinions that the pre- and post-2020 epidemiologic studies, taken as a whole, demonstrate a positive, statistically significant association between genital talc powder use and ovarian cancer,” Wolfson wrote as part of her 658-page decision.
However, Wolfson will also allow J&J’s (JNJ) experts to provide testimony to dispute the plaintiff’s allegations that the company’s talc-based products led to their ovarian cancers.
Erik Haas, J&J’s (JNJ) Worldwide Vice President of Litigation, noted that Wolfson’s decision was flawed and the company would appeal to Shipp. He argued that Wolfson had breached the “gatekeeping duty” judges have under the rules governing the evaluation of experts.
“The Special Master breached that duty, failing to conduct the requisite rigorous review of the studies cited by the plaintiffs’ experts,” Haas said.
J&J’s (JNJ) attempt to use bankruptcy to settle talc-related cancer claims has been rejected three times by federal judges, including U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez in Texas, who turned down the company’s bid for a $9B settlement in April 2025.