Johnson & Johnson forced to pay heaviest fine in cancer lawsuit

For the past many years, Johnson & Johnson has been getting sued over claims that its baby powder causes ovarian cancer when applied regularly. In a recent suit, the American multinational company was ordered to pay $417 million by a Los Angeles court after Eva Echeverria, a woman from California, sued the company claiming its baby powder gave her ovarian cancer.

Echeverria who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, says that she used the talcum powder on a daily basis from the 1950s till 2016. She further claimed in her lawsuit that the company does not warn about the potential risks of cancer that the prolonged usage of the product poses to customers.

She says that she developed cancer as a “proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of talcum powder.” She is hospitalized and is undergoing treatment, her lawyer Mark Robinson told the court.

Robinson also said that Johnson & Johnson’s internal documents spanning over several decades prove that the company was fully aware of the risks of ovarian cancer as a result of the regular use of the powder, but they never did anything to inform the public about it as well.

“Johnson & Johnson had many warning bells over a 30-year period but failed to warn the women who were buying its product,” he said.

Till date, this is the largest sum that the company has been ordered to pay and Robinson said that his client hopes that this will force the company to put warning labels on the baby powder. The court had awarded $68 million in compensation and $340 million in punitive damages.

However, Johnson & Johnson’s spokesperson said in a statement that the company will appear against the jury’s decision.

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Posted by fatimaarshad on Aug 23 2017. Filed under Latest News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.