Judge overturns $417M verdict over Johnson & Johnson baby powder

Enlarge / Johnson’s baby powder, stocked at a supermarket shelf in Alhambra, California. (credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)

A judge has thrown out a $ 417 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson, which came about when a jury sided with a terminally ill plaintiff who said that Johnson’s baby powder caused her ovarian cancer.

On Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maren Nelson granted (PDF) J&J’s motion for a new trial (PDF). The plaintiff, Eva Echeverria, won $ 70 million in compensatory damages and $ 347 million in punitive damages following a trial. Echeverria’s trial date was accelerated because of her poor medical condition, and she has since died.

More than 5,000 lawsuits have been filed against J&J alleging that baby powder, which contains talc, is linked to ovarian cancer. The lawsuits typically allege that J&J had a duty to warn consumers about the connection between cancer and baby powder. J&J has maintained that its product is safe and any warning would be misleading.

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Ars Technica

Post Author: martin

Martin is an enthusiastic programmer, a webdeveloper and a young entrepreneur. He is intereted into computers for a long time. In the age of 10 he has programmed his first website and since then he has been working on web technologies until now. He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of BriefNews.eu and PCHealthBoost.info Online Magazines. His colleagues appreciate him as a passionate workhorse, a fan of new technologies, an eternal optimist and a dreamer, but especially the soul of the team for whom he can do anything in the world.

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