A jury awarded an astonishing $417 million to a woman who eventually died of ovarian cancer she says was from baby powder, but it's been reversed.
A staggering $417 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson has been tossed by a California judge who says that the initial verdict had errors and insufficient evidence, granting J&J’s request for a new trial. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maren Nelson made the ruling int he remarkable case of Eva Echeverria, who died from ovarian cancer that she says was caused by talc-based products like Johnson’s Baby Powder.
The jury awarded $70 million to Echeverria in compensatory damages, and tacked on another $347 million in punitive damages. Mark Robinson, the woman’s lawyer, pledged to Reuters that he would appeal. “We will continue to fight on behalf of all women who have been impacted by this dangerous product,” he said.
In a statement, J&J said they were pleased in the decision and reiterated their innocence. The company has been hammered by multiple expensive lawsuits claiming that they don’t properly warm consumers of the risk that their products pose.
“30 years of studies by medical experts around the world, science, research and clinical evidence continues to support the safety of cosmetic talc,” reads a J&J statement from May 2016. “We first offered JOHNSON’S Baby Powder as a product choice more than 100 years ago because we were confident in the safety of talc. And today, we continue to manufacture and sell JOHNSON’S Baby Powder with talc because we remain completely confident in its safety. We remain committed to safety and innovation, and will continue to work hard to exceed consumer expectations and evolving product preferences. This commitment to innovation led to the introduction of JOHNSON’S Baby Powder made with cornstarch as an additional option for consumers nearly forty years ago.”
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