Asbestos Talc Lawsuits and News Involving Johnson & Johnson
2021
February
Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson set aside $3.9 billion for talc-related litigation, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington D.C.
2020
May
Johnson & Johnson announced it would end sales of its talc-based baby powder in the U.S. and Canada, but would continue to sell it internationally. Retailers kept selling stock of the product until it ran out. J&J will continue to make a cornstarch-based version of its Johnson’s Baby Powder available in the U.S. and Canada.
2019
October
Retailers throughout the U.S. pulled J&J’s talc-based baby powder from shelves after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found asbestos in one of the containers. The container was part of a 33,000-bottle batch that the company voluntarily recalled on Oct. 18, 2019.
May
A New York Jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $325 million to Donna Olson, who claimed J&J’s talcum powder caused her to develop mesothelioma. The jury awarded $25 million in compensatory damages and $300 million in punitive damages.
January
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sent a letter requesting documentation about past testing of Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder for asbestos. The letter was in response to a report released by Reuters News Service in 2018 that said J&J had covered up tests showing asbestos contamination since the 1970s.
2018
December
Reuters published an investigative report claiming that Johnson & Johnson knew its iconic baby powder contained asbestos. Tests from independent labs detected asbestos in the product from 1971 to the early 2000s, but J&J covered it up and never reported it to the FDA.
May
A California jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $25.7 million to Joanne Anderson, who said she developed mesothelioma from using the company’s talcum powder. The jury awarded $21.7 million in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages.
April
A New Jersey jury ordered J&J and Imerys Talc America to pay $80 million in punitive damages to Stephen Lanzo III, who claimed he developed mesothelioma from using the company’s Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products from 1972 to 2003.
Lanzo was awarded $37 million in compensatory damages the week prior. Punitive damages brought the total verdict to $117 million. It was J&J’s first loss involving an asbestos talcum powder lawsuit.
2017
October
Evidence in a class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson showed the company had known its talcum powder products contained asbestos since the early 1970s. J&J trained its employees to reassure the public that its products were never contaminated. The lawsuit was filed by more than 50 women with ovarian cancer in St. Louis.
To date, billions of dollars have been awarded to plaintiffs involving Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder and Shower to Shower products. Shower to Shower was sold to Valeant Pharmaceuticals (now Bausch Health) in 2012, prior to the advent of the first lawsuits in 2016.
https://www.asbestos.com/companies/johnson-johnson/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/johnsonandjohnson-cancer/
They didn't care as payouts still less than profits - however:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/johnson-johnson-taps-jones-day-to-explore-talc-bankruptcy-11626809000