A bottle of Johnson and Johnson child powder. File {photograph}
| Picture Credit score: REUTERS
Johnson & Johnson should pay USD 15 million to a Connecticut man who alleges that he developed mesothelioma, a uncommon type of most cancers, on account of utilizing the corporate’s talc powder for many years, a jury discovered on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
Plaintiff Evan Plotkin sued the corporate in 2021 quickly after his prognosis, saying he was sickened by inhaling J&J’s child powder.
The jury in Fairfield County, Connecticut Superior Courtroom additionally discovered that the corporate ought to pay extra punitive damages, which will likely be decided later by the decide overseeing the case.
“Evan Plotkin and his trial group are thrilled {that a} jury as soon as once more determined to carry Johnson & Johnson accountable for his or her advertising and sale of a child powder product that they knew contained asbestos,” Ben Braly, a lawyer for Plotkin, stated in an electronic mail.
Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide vp of litigation, stated in an announcement that the corporate would enchantment “inaccurate” rulings by the trial decide that saved the jury from listening to important information in regards to the case.
“These information present that the decision is irreconcilable with the many years of impartial scientific evaluations confirming talc is secure, doesn’t comprise asbestos and doesn’t trigger most cancers,” Haas stated.
Tuesday’s verdict comes as J&J seeks to resolve claims by greater than 62,000 individuals who say that they received ovarian and different gynecological cancers from talc by a virtually $9 billion settlement in chapter.
The chapter deal, which faces authorized challenges from some plaintiffs’ legal professionals, has put the lawsuits over gynecological cancers on maintain, however doesn’t have an effect on the a lot smaller variety of mesothelioma claims like Plotkin’s. The corporate has beforehand settled a few of these claims however has not proposed a nationwide settlement.
Plaintiffs in all the lawsuits say that J&J’s talc merchandise, like its as soon as iconic child powder, have been tainted with asbestos, a carcinogen recognized to trigger mesothelioma and different cancers.
J&J withdrew its talc-based powder merchandise from the U.S. market in 2020.
Reuters watched the decision announcement by Courtroom View Community.
Printed – October 17, 2024 05:22 pm IST
