A Los Angeles jury on Friday handed Johnson & Johnson a win, finding the company was not negligent in a lawsuit brought by the families of three women who said its talc-based baby powder caused ovarian cancer. The suit involved the families of Mary Owens, Bonnie Tienken and Geneva Williams, all of whom died after lengthy illnesses the plaintiffs tied to years of baby powder use. The decision is the latest twist in a long-running, high-profile battle over talc and cancer that has produced sharply mixed verdicts around the country.
According to The Mighty 790 KFGO, which carried a Reuters report from the courtroom, ten of the twelve jurors sided with J&J. The case is just one piece of sprawling litigation that now includes more than 67,000 plaintiffs who say J&J’s baby powder and other talc products caused ovarian cancer.
J&J’s worldwide vice president of litigation, Erik Haas, told the court the lawsuit was built on “junk science,” while plaintiffs’ attorney Ari Friedman labeled the outcome “disappointing,” according to The Mighty 790 KFGO. Jurors heard dueling expert witnesses and saw decades of internal company documents, but in the end they rejected the plaintiffs’ negligence claim.
Patchwork rulings and a changed product
J&J’s record in talc cases has been all over the map. As The Associated Press and others have reported, juries have at times hit the company with multimillion-dollar awards for plaintiffs and, in other instances, delivered outright defense wins. If you were hoping for one clear legal roadmap, this is not it.
Facing declining sales, Johnson & Johnson replaced talc with cornstarch in its baby powder sold in much of North America in 2020. Throughout, the company has maintained that its talc products are safe and asbestos-free.
What’s next for plaintiffs and courts
More than 67,000 talc-related claims are still active in multidistrict litigation and state courts, according to case-tracking resources like LexGenius. Neither side is treating this latest verdict as the final word. Appeals, fresh trials and post-trial motions are widely expected as courts continue to sort out who, if anyone, will pay and how much.
Hoodline context and the longer arc
Hoodline previously reported on a major post-trial move in March, when a Los Angeles judge threw out a $950 million punitive damages award against J&J while leaving a $16 million portion of the verdict in place. That ruling, detailed in LA judge nixes $950M award, underscored how even blockbuster jury decisions can be cut down once a judge takes a second look.
For now, the new Los Angeles verdict simply gets added to a crowded scorecard where both plaintiffs and J&J have notched big wins and painful losses in quick succession. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say the ruling will not stem the flow of claims, while J&J has repeated its position that its talc products do not contain asbestos and do not cause cancer, according to The Associated Press. Both sides are likely to wield this case as one more bargaining chip in upcoming trials and appeals.
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