Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) just got hit with its biggest talc verdict yet. A Baltimore County jury on Monday ordered the healthcare giant and its subsidiaries to pay over $1.5 billion to a woman who claimed decades of using the company's talc-based products gave her peritoneal mesothelioma, a particularly aggressive form of cancer.
The numbers are staggering. Jurors awarded Cherie Craft, diagnosed with mesothelioma in January 2024, $59.84 million in compensatory damages. Then came the real hammer: $1 billion in punitive damages against J&J itself, plus another $500 million against Pecos River Talc, a J&J subsidiary.
Breaking Records in All the Wrong Ways
This verdict shatters the previous record for a single plaintiff in talc litigation, according to Craft's attorneys at Dean Omar Branham Shirley LLP. That same law firm previously secured what was the record: a $966 million award on behalf of Mae Moore's family in Los Angeles. The Baltimore verdict comes just weeks after a California jury awarded $40 million to two women making similar claims.
J&J isn't taking this lying down. Erik Haas, the company's worldwide vice president of litigation, called the ruling "egregious" and "patently unconstitutional," according to Reuters. The New Brunswick-based company plans to appeal, which isn't surprising given what's at stake.
The Bigger Picture
This latest verdict is just one battle in a much larger war. Johnson & Johnson faces lawsuits from more than 67,000 plaintiffs who claim they developed cancer after using its baby powder and other talc products. The company has consistently denied these allegations, maintaining that its products are safe, don't contain asbestos, and don't cause cancer.
J&J even tried to settle the avalanche of litigation through a bankruptcy proceeding, but courts rejected that approach. The company has set aside billions for litigation costs and settlements as cases continue to wind through courts nationwide.
It's worth noting that while juries keep awarding massive verdicts against J&J in talc cases, many have been reduced or overturned on appeal. Still, the legal pressure hasn't let up. The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the United States back in 2020, switching to a corn-starch formula instead.
