Talcum Powder Lawsuits Damaging J&J Reputation

Johnson & Johnson, which has been fighting a handful of legal battles over defective products, is looking at a new stain on its public image in the wake of more than 1,000 talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits filed against the company.

Thursday, March 31, 2016 - The financial and structural stability of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) may not be perilous following a $72 million talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuit penalty, but one of the world's largest healthcare companies has been dealing with a rash of legal problems related to their product that have been raising red flags around the industry. The baby powder ovarian cancer lawsuit is likely to be the latest in a string of products the company released that have come back to hamper both the company's public image and financial well-being.

The first of the latest string of payouts came in 2013 when the company agreed to pay $2.2 billion to resolve claimed involving the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The company later had to pay $2.8 billion to resolve claims related to their defective Depuy metal on metal knee replacements. Though these numbers may not be representative of what talcum powder ovarian cancer lawyers will eventually earn for their clients, the precedent set by two faulty products that did not cause cancer could lead to a large settlement that lands in the same ballpark or even surpasses them.

J&J also has a number of defective healthcare products that are in line to earn the plaintiffs suing large payouts that the company has already put money aside to settle. Transvaginal mesh, the blood thinner Xarelto and another slew of Risperdal lawsuits are all currently in separate stages of litigation involving J&J. All these legal arenas, coupled with the impending litigative battles involving the talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits, have done considerable damage to the J&J public image.

The talcum powder cancer lawsuits are also likely to be especially harmful, as lawyers for the plaintiffs claim that internal documents from the company point out that J&J targeted minorities specifically for their baby powder products after they knew of the ovarian cancer risk. Those internal documents, which also show doctors warning the company of the potential dangers associated with baby powder products marketed without warning labels, were a central component to the evidence presented in the baby powder cancer lawsuit that elicited the $72 million award.

The next talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuit will be tried in the City of St. Louis Circuit Court on April 11. This is the same court where talcum powder ovarian cancer attorneys won their client the $72 million settlement in February. A third baby powder cancer lawsuit is also expected to be heard before the court in 2016, and both of the women share characteristics with the first talcum powder lawsuit that received $72 million in damages.

All the women had been using talcum powder for more than 40 years, claim contracted ovarian cancer from the product, and will be bringing internal documents released by J&J that will seek to prove that the company knew of the risk they were exposing their consumers to and declined to affix a warning label to their products. Unlike the first trial however, the two plaintiffs in these trials are still alive. The plaintiff in the first trial gave her testimony via a recorded tapings she made before she passed.

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