Total Talcum Powder Lawsuits In U.S. Top 1,700

The number of Johnson & Johnson's baby powder ovarian cancer lawsuits currently pending in the country has risen to more than 1,700 claims overall.

Monday, October 31, 2016 - The total number of talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits currently pending nationwide has risen to more than 1,700. That number has grown steadily over the past few months as trials and increased media coverage has brought the litigation to a wider audience around the country. Most of the baby powder lawsuits are consolidated in Los Angeles, St. Louis and New Jersey, though claims have been filed in dozens of states around the country.

The number of talcum powder lawsuits will likely continue to grow at a steady pace as Johnson & Johnson just lost their third trial of the year to a plaintiff that brought ovarian cancer charges against the company in relation to their popular cosmetic. The trials, which concluded in February, May and September, netted the plaintiffs awards of $72 million, $55 million, and upwards of $70, respectively. The most recent baby powder lawsuit trial just concluded last week, and is seen as a massive blow to Johnson & Johnson's prospects of beating these claims in court. A lump sum settlement may be the next option for the company, though that decision will take some time to be made.

The claims against Johnson & Johnson so not vary too much from plaintiff to plaintiff. They charge that Johnson & Johnson knew of the more than 20 published medical studies that discovered a correlation between talcum powder and an increased risk in ovarian cancer. Many of the studied concluded that when talcum powder is used by women as a genital hygienic, talc particles can travel up the fallopian tubes to the ovaries where they become embedded in the tissue. It is via this process that a number of the studies found an ovarian cancer rate that was inflated when compared to women who did not use talcum powder as a genital hygienic. Johnson & Johnson has denied the claims of these studies, however the trial verdicts have rebuffed those effort and litigation continues to grow on a national level.

On October 4th, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation passed a motion to transfer 11 federal talcum powder lawsuits into an MDL. The ruling also named 43 tag-along actions that will potentially join the MDL, and the many of the more than 1,000 federal Johnson & Johnson's baby powder lawsuits pending around the nation are expected to join into the MDL in the near future. The creation of the MDL will place the federal lawsuits before a single federal judge to facilitate for better coordination between talcum powder lawyers working with claims that have similar questions of fact.

The potential for growth in this litigation is far greater than 1,700 claims as the practice of using talcum powder as a genital hygienic is a well known habit for many women in the U.S. Johnson & Johnson also marketed their products for that purpose specifically, a fact that has come up repeatedly in the charges against the company. After news of the plaintiff receiving a favorable decision in the third talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuit, there is the potential for the of claims will spike over the last few months of 2016.

Information provided by TalcumPowderCancerLawsuit.com, a website devoted to providing news about talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits, as well as medical research and findings.