A jury in Minnesota has awarded $65.5 million to a mother of three who said talcum products made by Johnson & Johnson contributed to her developing cancer.
According to the Associated Press and the Minnesota Star Tribune, jurors in Ramsey County District Court determined on Friday, Dec. 19, that Anna Jean Houghton Carley, 37, should be compensated by Johnson & Johnson after she used the company's baby powder at various points in her life and was later diagnosed with mesothelioma -- a form of cancer that often develops in the tissue around the lungs.
During the 13-day trial, Carley's legal team argued that the powder exposed her to asbestos, and that Johnson & Johnson was aware that the talc-based product could be contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen.
Erik Haas, the pharmaceutical company's worldwide vice president of litigation, argued during the trial that the baby powder is safe, did not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.
Attorneys for Carley also said that her family was not warned about the dangers when they used the baby powder on their child.
Carley was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, per the Star Tribune, and filed her lawsuit in March.
The specific talcum powder product was taken off shelves in the U.S. in 2020, per AP. The $65.5 million award is compensatory and accounts for Carley's past and future losses.
"This verdict does not make up for the pain and suffering that Anna, her husband Mike, and her children will go through all because of J&J's desire for revenue and company profits," Carley's attorney Ben Braly, from the Dallas, Texas-based firm Dean Omar Branham Shirley, said in a press release.
Braly's firm wrote in its release that this verdict is believed to be the largest asbestos-related verdict in Minnesota history.
"This case was not about compensation only. It was about truth and accountability," Braly added.
Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that it would appeal the verdict, as well as several other verdicts in similar cases concerning talc in its products.
Haas said he expects an appellate court to reverse the case's outcome.
"These lawsuits are predicated on 'junk science,' refuted by decades of studies that demonstrate Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer," Haas told AP in a statement after the verdict.
Johnson & Johnson will "continue to advocate for gold standard science in the U.S. judicial system," the company's statement continued. "For far too long, American juries have been permitted to review junk science supporting plaintiff lawyers in search of jackpot verdicts, instead of science from scientific agencies authorized by Congress to evaluate such matters."
The Minnesota verdict is just the latest in a long-lasting legal battle over allegations about the presence of asbestos in several Johnson & Johnson products, including Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower body powder.
The products were allegedly connected to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Johnson & Johnson stopped selling powder made with talc worldwide in 2023.
Earlier this week, a jury in Los Angeles Superior Court awarded $40 million to two women who said Johnson & Johnson's baby powder was to blame for their ovarian cancer, per Reuters and AP. Haas said that the company also plans to appeal that case.