[snip]
The verdict could be reduced on appeal as the U.S. Supreme Court has found that punitive damages should generally be no more than nine times compensatory damages.
Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said in a statement that the company plans to immediately appeal, calling the verdict “egregious and unconstitutional.”
[snip]
The company has said its products are safe, do not contain asbestos, and do not cause cancer. J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product. Mesothelioma has been linked to asbestos exposure.
Trey Branham, one of the attorneys representing Moore’s family, said after the verdict that his team is “hopeful that Johnson & Johnson will finally accept responsibility for these senseless deaths.”
[snip]
J&J has sought to resolve the litigation through bankruptcy, a proposal that has been rejected three times by federal courts.
Lawsuits alleging talc caused mesothelioma were not part of the last bankruptcy proposal. The company has previously settled some of those claims but has not struck a nationwide settlement, so many lawsuits over mesothelioma have proceeded to trial in state courts in recent months.
[snip]
The company has been successful in reducing some of the awards on appeal, including in one Oregon case where a state judge granted J&J’s motion to throw out a $260 million verdict and hold a new trial.
* Original Article:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/johnson-johnson-ordered-to-pay-staggering-sum-in-talc-cancer-case