J&J will indemnify man who says he has cancer caused by talc – 07/19/2023 – Market

Johnson & Johnson is expected to pay $18.8 million (R$90.2 million) to a man in the United States who says he developed cancer due to exposure to baby powder manufactured by the company. The decision was taken on Tuesday (19) and represents a setback for the company, which seeks to resolve thousands of similar cases related to its talc-based products in a bankruptcy court.

The jury found in favor of Emory Hernandez Valadez, 24, who filed a lawsuit last year in California state court in Oakland seeking financial damages.

He claimed to have developed mesothelioma, a cancer of the tissue around his heart, as a result of intense exposure to the company’s baby powder since childhood. The six-week trial was the first talc-related trial J&J has faced in nearly two years.

The jury concluded that Emory was entitled to damages to compensate for his medical expenses, pain and suffering, but chose not to award punitive damages against the company. It is not known when he will receive the amount thanks to a bankruptcy court order that freezes most lawsuits related to J&J’s talc.

Erik Hass, the company’s vice president of litigation, said in a statement that the company would appeal the decision, calling it “irreconcilable with decades of independent scientific evaluations confirming that Johnson Talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer. .”

Reuters was unable to reach Hernandez’s lawyer for comment.

On July 10, lawyers for J&J said there was no evidence linking Emory’s type of mesothelioma to asbestos, nor evidence that he was exposed to contaminated baby powder. Already, for the prosecution, the company “despicably” covered up decades of asbestos contamination.

Tens of thousands of claimants sued the company, claiming that talcum powder and other talc-based products sometimes contained asbestos and caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. J&J has stated that its baby powder products are safe and do not contain asbestos.

Subsidiary LTL Management, filed for bankruptcy in April, proposing to pay US$8.9 billion (R$42.7 billion) to resolve more than 38,000 lawsuits and avoid new cases. It was the company’s second attempt to resolve the claims, after a federal appeals court threw out a previous attempt.

The plaintiffs are seeking to have LTL’s latest bankruptcy filing dismissed. They argued that the request was made in bad faith to protect the company from litigation.

The companies argue that bankruptcy provides fairer, more efficient and equitable settlement payments to plaintiffs than trial courts, which they liken to a “lottery,” in which some litigants receive large damages and others nothing.

J&J said in bankruptcy court filings that the costs of its verdicts, settlements and legal fees related to talc reached about $4.5 billion.