Suit over talcum powder nets $417M

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay a record $417 million to a hospitalized woman who said in a lawsuit that the talc in the company’s iconic baby powder causes ovarian cancer when applied regularly for feminine hygiene.

The verdict for the California woman, Eva Echeverria, marks the largest sum awarded in a series of talcumpowder lawsuit verdicts against Johnson & Johnson.

Echeverria alleged Johnson & Johnson failed to adequately warn consumers about talcum powder’s potential cancer risks. She used the company’s baby powder on a daily basis beginning in the 1950s until 2016 and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, according to court papers.

Echeverria’s attorney, Mark Robinson, said: “Mrs. Echeverria is dying from this ovarian cancer, and she said to me all she wanted to do was to help the other women throughout the whole country who have ovarian cancer for using Johnson & Johnson for 20 and 30 years,” Robinson said.

“She really didn’t want sympathy,” he added.

Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said the company will appeal the jury’s decision and that scientific evidence supports the safety of Johnson’s baby powder.

The verdict came after a St. Louis, Missouri, jury in May awarded $110.5 million to a Virginia woman who used the company’s talcum powder-containing products for more than 40 years and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012.

Besides that case, three other trials in St. Louis had similar outcomes last year — with juries awarding damages of $72 million, $70.1 million and $55 million.

Another St. Louis jury in March rejected the claims of a Tennessee woman with ovarian and uterine cancer.

More than 1,000 other people have filed similar lawsuits over talcum powder. Some who won their lawsuits won much lower amounts, illustrating how juries have wide latitude in awarding monetary damages.