Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $120M to a woman after she blamed her cancer on exposure to company’s baby powder

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A New York state decide has ordered pharmaceutical large Johnson & Johnson to pay $120 million in damages to a Brooklyn couple, after the woman blamed her cancer on asbestos exposure from utilizing the corporate’s baby powder.

According to Reuters, Justice Gerald Lebovits of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan diminished the quantity on Wednesday from the $325 million a jury awarded Donna Olson, 67, and husband Robert Olson, 65, in May 2019.

While upholding the jury’s legal responsibility discovering, the decide acknowledged that the damages have been too excessive, and the Olsons might both settle for $120 million or have a new trial on damages.

Johnson & Johnson mentioned it is going to enchantment the decision, citing “significant legal and evidentiary errors” on the trial.

“We deeply sympathize with anyone suffering from cancer, which is why the facts are so important,” the corporate mentioned. “We remain confident that our talc is safe, asbestos free, and does not cause cancer.”

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Jerome Block, a lawyer representing the Olsons, mentioned they have been happy with the consequence and assured it might stand.

He additionally mentioned Donna Olson’s mesothelioma “is at an advanced stage, and we are hoping for the best.”

Donna Olson had testified that she used Johnson’s Baby Powder or Shower to Shower each day for greater than 50 years.

Lebovits wrote that jurors might discover that Johnson & Johnson was for a few years “knowingly deceitful about” or “willfully blind to” potential well being dangers of its talc merchandise, partially to preserve market share and revenue.

Johnson & Johnson has confronted intense scrutiny of its baby powder’s security following a 2018 Reuters investigative report that discovered it knew for many years about asbestos in its talc.

According to Reuters, each inner firm information, trial testimony and different proof present that from no less than 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J’s uncooked talc and completed powders typically examined constructive for small quantities of asbestos.