J&J must pay $15 million to Connecticut man who says its talc gave him cancer, jury finds

By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson must pay $15 million to a Connecticut man who alleges that he developed mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, as a result of using the company’s talc powder for decades, a jury found on Tuesday.

Plaintiff Evan Plotkin sued the company in 2021 soon after his diagnosis, saying he was sickened by inhaling J&J’s baby powder.

The verdict, handed down by a jury in Fairfield, Connecticut Superior Court, comes as J&J seeks to resolve claims by more than 62,000 people who say that they got ovarian and other gynecological cancers from talc through a nearly $9 billion settlement in bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy deal, which faces legal challenges from some plaintiffs’ lawyers, has put the lawsuits over gynecological cancers on hold, but does not affect the much smaller number of mesothelioma claims like Plotkin’s. The company has previously settled some of those claims but has not proposed a nationwide settlement.

Plaintiffs in all of the lawsuits say that J&J’s talc products, like its once iconic baby powder, were tainted with asbestos, a carcinogen known to cause mesothelioma and other cancers.

J&J denies the claims and maintains that its products are safe and do not contain asbestos. It withdrew its talc-based powder products from the U.S. market in 2020.

Reuters watched the verdict through Courtroom View Network.

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)