Anna Hartz
Johnson & Johnson pays $5.5 billion to end baby powder cancer claims
Product safety lawsuits can take years to settle. Large companies often choose to reach agreements instead of continuing long court battles. That can bring compensation to thousands of people while allowing both sides to avoid more years of legal proceedings.
More than 60,000 lawsuits
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $5.5 billion to settle claims that its baby powder and other talc products caused ovarian cancer, according to Reuters. The company said the agreement is worth about 69,000 lawsuits that have been combined in federal court, along with related cases in state courts.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs confirmed the settlement and called it a fair outcome after a legal fight that has lasted for about ten years. The agreement must still be approved by the federal judge overseeing the case.
Thousands of Americans sued Johnson & Johnson after claiming they developed cancer because they were exposed to the company’s baby powder and other talc products. The lawsuits argue that some of the products contained asbestos, which is known to cause cancer.
Johnson & Johnson has repeatedly denied that its talc products cause cancer. The company also says its products did not contain asbestos.
Documents suggested they knew
Last week, the company won an important court victory when a federal judge questioned whether individual plaintiffs could prove that talc was the direct cause of their ovarian cancer.
Even so, Johnson & Johnson said it decided to settle the lawsuits to bring the long-running dispute to an end. Erik Haas, the company’s vice president for litigation, said the claims have no legal basis. He added that the company believes it would have continued to win most of the remaining cases if they had gone to trial.
Johnson & Johnson stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the United States in 2020. The company replaced it with a cornstarch-based version. At the time, it said the decision was driven by what it described as misinformation about the product.
In 2018, Reuters reported that internal company documents suggested Johnson & Johnson had known for decades that its talc was at times contaminated with asbestos. The company has denied those allegations.
Johnson & Johnson has faced questions about product safety before. During the COVID-19 pandemic, its vaccine was used in several countries.
Sources: Reuters
