$4.69 Billion Talcum Powder Verdict Against Johnson & Johnson for Ovarian Cancer (2018)

For decades, Johnson & Johnson marketed its talcum-based baby powder and Shower to Shower products as safe for routine personal hygiene. Behind that marketing, plaintiffs alleged, the company possessed internal research and geological studies dating back to the 1970s showing that its talc ore deposits contained naturally occurring asbestos fibers. Rather than reformulate or warn consumers, J&J continued selling the products without disclosing the contamination risk.

Twenty-two women from multiple states developed ovarian cancer after years of applying talcum powder as part of their daily personal care routines. Their families joined them in a consolidated trial in St. Louis, alleging that asbestos-laced talc particles migrated through the reproductive tract and caused malignant changes in ovarian tissue. Ovarian cancer carries a poor prognosis when detected late, and several plaintiffs had died before the trial concluded.

W. Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm served as lead trial counsel, joined by co-counsel Kevin P. Parker and a team that included Eric Holland and Patrick Dowd of the Holland Law Firm and John Torbitzky of Behr McCarter and Potter. Lanier employed a series of courtroom demonstrations to translate complex mineralogy into terms a jury could grasp: he cut through a block of yellow cheese to illustrate how talc is mined from rock formations that also contain asbestos veins, and he used a sensitive laboratory scale to show the jury that asbestos fibers too light to register on a bathroom scale are still measurably present and capable of causing harm. He also used hand-drawn overhead projector diagrams to walk jurors through the science of fiber migration and cellular damage.

The jury deliberated and returned its verdict on July 12, 2018: $4.14 billion in punitive damages and $550 million in compensatory damages, totaling $4.69 billion. It was the largest verdict returned anywhere in the United States that year. Judge Rex Burlison presided over the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis.

J&J appealed, and in June 2020 a three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed liability but reduced the award to $2.11 billion. The court removed judgments for two plaintiffs who had not used Missouri-manufactured J&J talc products, and it reduced the punitive damages from $4.14 billion to $1.61 billion. The panel described J&J's conduct as 'reprehensible' and found that the company disregarded consumer safety despite its own knowledge that talc in its products caused ovarian cancer. The remaining 20 plaintiffs were each entitled to approximately $110 million under the appellate judgment.