Baby Powder Cancer Saga Poised To End With Massive Payout
Johnson & Johnson announced on Monday it will be paying $5.5 billion to settle 76,000 lawsuit claims that its talc baby powder caused ovarian cancer.
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Lawsuits about J&J’s talc-based baby powder have entrenched the company in legal battles for the past 15 years. J&J has settled similar lawsuits alleging that the baby powder contained asbestos and thus caused mesothelioma, but had not previously settled the ovarian cancer claims.
This agreement came after a federal court decision on July 22 decreed that most claimants could not effectively tie the Johnson & Johnson baby powder to their ovarian cancer.
“[The court confirmed] what we have maintained for years: that these claims lack scientific merit and were sustained only by unreliable expert opinions that could not survive rigorous judicial review,” Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s Worldwide Vice President of Litigation, said in a statement. “While we are confident the Company would have ultimately prevailed with further litigation… this resolution allows the Company to put this matter behind it and remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives.”
Johnson & Johnson repeated in its statement that the lawsuits were “meritless” and said that “Studies show talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”
Chris Seeger, an attorney representing about 2,500 plaintiffs with talc claims, told Fox News that he helped negotiate the settlement. He also stated that J&J could actually pay $7 billion or more because the settlement does not put a cap on the total payout but rather assigns specific values to qualifying ovarian cancer claims.
“We got a fair settlement, and our clients are going to be happy with it,” Seeger said in an interview with Reuters.
Johnson & Johnson plans to pay $3 billion of the $5.5 billion settlement in 2027 and the remainder in 2028 or later. 95% of claimants must agree to the settlement before it can take effect.
The company previously attempted a legal strategy to have shell-company subsidiaries declare bankruptcy in order to settle these cancer cases, but that proved unsuccessful.
J&J switched its baby powder recipe from talc to a cornstarch-based product in 2020.
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