On Tuesday, Nov. 3, the Missouri Supreme Court refused to take up a dispute worth over $2.1 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson over ovarian cancer on longtime users of its talcum powder. This led Johnson & Johnson to pledge to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The litigation comes from a verdict in June 2018 in which the jury upheld the science behind J&J’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower talc-based products lead to ovarian cancer in 22 women. The lead plaintiff was Gail Ingham passed while the appeal was pending.
The state’s high court refused Johnson & Johnson’s application asking to transfer the case from a lower appellate court, which had cut the original verdict from $4.7 billion to $2.11 billion. However, when Missouri’s Eastern District slashed nearly $2.6 billion from the ruling in June, the court did affirm the jury’s findings that asbestos and other carcinogens in J&J’s talc products caused the women’s cancers.
How did J&J respond to the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision?
Despite these major blows, a Johnson & Johnson representative said the company will be appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“After exhausting its requests of appellate review in the state of Missouri, Johnson & Johnson will be pursuing further review of the Ingham verdict by the United States Supreme Court,” said Kim Montagnino. “The company believes Ingham was a fundamentally flawed trial, grounded in a faulty presentation of the facts. The verdict is also at odds with decades of independent scientific evaluations confirming Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”
Johnson and Johnson have repeatedly argued that the $25 million given to each woman or couple showed that the jury didn’t look closely at the details of each case presented. However, the intermediate court disagreed with J&J’s position saying that the identical awards aren’t evidence of unfair treatment.
Further, the intermediate court could find the punitive damages acceptable, standing firmly that J&J knowingly sold asbestos-contaminated products to consumers.
At The Carlson Law Firm, we care.
If you have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer after using J&J’s talc products, contact us today. A qualified Ovarian cancer lawyer from The Carlson Law Firm can help you determine if you have a lawsuit against J&J.
Our firm has more than 40 years of experience helping those injured by dangerous products. We care, and we can help.
