By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) – A Los Angeles jury on Friday sided with Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit by the families of three women who alleged that the company’s talc products caused ovarian cancer, finding that J&J was not negligent when selling cosmetic talc products.
• The lawsuit was filed by the families of Mary Owens, Bonnie Tienken and Geneva Williams, who each died of ovarian cancer after using talc-based baby powder
• J&J said its products are safe, do not contain asbestos, and do not cause cancer
• J&J faces lawsuits from over 67,000 plaintiffs alleging that its baby powder and other talc products cause ovarian cancer
• Trials have resumed after J&J failed to resolve the lawsuits in bankruptcy court
• J&J has a mixed record in trials, winning some cases outright but also being hit with large verdicts in other cases
• J&J also prevailed in a jury trial in Oklahoma last week
• J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product
• The case was tried in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles
• J&J vice president of litigation Erik Haas said on Friday that the case was based on “junk science”
• Ten of the 12 jurors found that J&J was not negligent when making and selling talc-based cosmetic powder, according to proceedings viewed on Courtroom View Network
• J&J has settled a majority of cases alleging that its products caused mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer associated with asbestos
• Nearly all of the remaining cases allege that talc products cause ovarian cancer
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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