Philadelphia County Courthouse
PHILADELPHIA – A second Pennsylvania jury has refused to issue a blockbuster verdict that lawyers hoped for, as last week Philadelphians awarded just $250,000 in a case alleging Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder caused a woman’s ovarian cancer.
Though found liable, Johnson & Johnson faces what it calls a “token verdict” that reflects the jury’s skepticism of scientific evidence put forth by the firm Beasley Allen, which has been disqualified from pursuing these cases in neighboring New Jersey. Plaintiffs’ theory is that J&J’s talc contained asbestos.
There are 176 cases pending in Philadelphia’s Complex Litigation Center, while thousands are in other state courts around the country and even more are consolidated in a federal court in Massachusetts.
“While nominal, the award reflects the inequity of the current jury system where, as here, plaintiff’s lawyers and their experts failed to legally or scientifically address the evidence demonstrating the true cause of plaintiff’s cancer was unrelated to the Company’s products,” said Erik Haas, worldwide vice president of litigation at Johnson & Johnson.
“These lawsuits are predicated on junk science and refuted by decades of studies demonstrating Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”
The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has long been feared by defendants who noted the prevalence of massive verdicts, like $2.25 billion in a 2024 trial over the weedkiller Roundup. This time, jurors awarded $50,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages.
It’s at least the second mixed verdict Pennsylvania juries have reached. Though it found J&J liable for plaintiff Gayle Emerson’s ovarian cancer, it rejected the opportunity to impose millions of dollars in damages like others have.
For example, two women won $40 million in December in Los Angeles. The largest-ever was $4.69 billion in 2018 that was later reduced to $2.1 billion, and late last year a Maryland jury awarded $1.5 billion.
In 2024, a Pittsburgh jury said J&J didn’t cause Michaeleen Lee’s cancer but still attempted to impose $22 million in punitive damages. The trial court struck that award, and the case is on appeal at the state Superior Court.
J&J has vowed to fight talc cases in court after its plan to fund a $9 billion settlement was defeated – by Beasley Allen. A Houston bankruptcy judge last year found a poll of those with injury claims tied to Baby Powder use unreliable.
Beasley Allen was recently found to have corroborated with a former J&J lawyer on a settlement plan that didn’t include bankruptcy, which prompted its disqualification from more than 3,000 New Jersey cases.
