J&J to pay punitive damages over baby powder containing asbestos
A US plaintiff has received $4m in damages, on top of $21.7m for her cancer, but jurors wanted a warning about the ingredient on the Johnson & Johnson product, too
Detroit — Jurors weighing how to punish Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in a lawsuit asked a judge if they could force the company to warn consumers that its Johnson’s Baby Powder could be contaminated with asbestos, according to the law firm that won the case against the healthcare giant. After the judge said no, the jury awarded $4m in punitive damages on Thursday to Joanne Anderson (68), who claimed her deadly cancer was caused by asbestos in J&J’s baby powder. A day earlier, the jury had awarded $21.7m to Anderson, finding J&J 67% responsible for her mesothelioma. The court wouldn’t have the power to order a company to add or change warnings on its products, said David Logan, law professor at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. "It’s not a remedy that can be ordered in a damages action," he said. The fact that the jury asked the question at all, however, "is a bad sign for J&J," said law professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond in Virginia. "That should make J...
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