LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles jury on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $417 million to a woman who claimed in a lawsuit that the talc in its baby powder causes ovarian cancer when applied regularly for feminine hygiene.
The lawsuit was brought by a California woman, Eva Echeverria, 62, who alleged that Johnson & Johnson failed to adequately warn consumers about the potential cancer risks of talcum powder.
Echeverria developed ovarian cancer as a "proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of talcum powder," her lawsuit said.
Echeverria's attorney, Mark Robinson, said his client hoped the verdict would lead Johnson & Johnson to include more warnings on its products.
"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. "She just wanted to get a message out to help these other women."
Johnson & Johnson spokesman Carol Goodrich said in a statement that the company will appeal the jury's decision. She said science supports the safety of Johnson's baby powder.
"We are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder," Goodrich said. "We are preparing for additional trials in the U.S. and we will continue to defend the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder."
A St. Louis jury in May awarded $110.5 million to a Virginia woman who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012.
She had blamed her illness on her use for more than 40 years of the company's talcum powder-containing products.
Besides that case, three other jury trials in St. Louis reached similar outcomes last year -- issuing awards of $72 million, $70.1 million and $55 million, for a combined total of $307.6 million.
Goodrich said the New Brunswick, N.J.-based company will continue to defend the product's safety. The company faces 5,500 claims in U.S. courts.
Robinson said outside the courtroom Monday that Johnson & Johnson should start warning women immediately about the risks of its talcum powder.
"J&J needs to see they not only have verdicts against them in St. Louis, they now also have them in Los Angeles," Robinson said. "There's a problem all over the country with women using talcum powder on daily basis."
Echeverria started using Johnson & Johnson's talc powder products when she was 11. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007.
The case is Echeverria v. Johnson & Johnson, BC628228, Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael Balsamoa and Lee Myers of The Associated Press and Margaret Cronin Fisk, Edvard Pettersson and Jef Feeley of Bloomberg News.
Business on 08/22/2017