A New Jersey federal court on Thursday cleared Johnson & Johnson of a product liability case filed against it by a plaintiff. The deliberations went on for less than a day in New Brunswick, New Jersey, over allegations that asbestos presence in the company's talcum powder was the reason for her mesothelioma.
J&J faces more than 10,000 product liability cases across the U.S., all with the same assertion that the talcum giant knowingly concealed ovarian cancer and mesothelioma risks associated with its talc products. The company has been charged with cancer lawsuits for several years now. The first trial in April concluded with the jury verdict of $117 million to a man who suffered mesothelioma, and in May J&J was ordered to pay $25.7 million to a woman who was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Both these verdicts are currently under appeal. Four trials after that ended in mistrials as the jury declared a deadlock or because in some cases the plaintiffs passed away before the trial. In July this year, a Missouri jury declared a massive verdict of $ 4.7 billion favoring 22 women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer due to asbestos contamination in the talcum powder.
