Johnson & Johnson has to pay $18.8 million to a California man who claimed he got cancer from exposure to the NJ-based company’s talc-containing baby powder, a jury decided Tuesday.
Emory Hernandez Valadez, 24, said he developed mesothelioma, an aggressive and deadly cancer, in the tissue around his heart from heavy exposure to asbestos and other carcinogens since childhood, Reuters reported.
Valadez, who sued J&J last year, was awarded economic damages of $3.8 million and noneconomic damages of $15 million.
But Valadez may not see any compensation anytime soon because of a bankruptcy court order freezing most litigation alleging J&J’s baby powder and other talc products caused cancer.
The average life expectancy of someone treated for mesothelioma is 18-31 months, according to Mesothelioma.com. Without treatment, the life expectancy is about six months.
Even though most lawsuits over J&J talc have been halted, US Chief Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan allowed Valadez’s litigation to proceed because of his prognosis.
Erik Haas, vice president of litigation at J&J, said in a statement to media outlets that the company plans to appeal the verdict.
He argued that the New Brunswick-based company wasn’t able to share with jurors evidence that its baby powder didn’t cause Valadez’s rare form of mesothelioma.
“Without the benefit of that evidence, the verdict is irreconcilable with the decades of independent scientific evaluations confirming Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer,” Haas said in his statement.
Valadez’s mother, Anna Camacho, testified that she used large amounts of J&J’s baby powder on her son throughout his childhood.
“I do not wish this on any parent,” she said in June.
Talc is a naturally-occurring mineral — made of magnesium, silicon, oxygen and hydrogen — that absorbs moisture and helps reduce friction, which is useful for keeping skin dry and preventing rashes.
In its natural form, some talc contains asbestos, a substance known to cause cancer when inhaled, according to the American Cancer Society.
Valadez is just one of tens of thousands of plaintiffs who have sued J&J, alleging its baby powder and other talc products have caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.
J&J subsidiary LTL Management filed for bankruptcy in April in Trenton, its second attempt to resolve these claims in bankruptcy.
The drugmaker offered to pay $8.9 billion over 25 years to settle more than 38,000 lawsuits and prevent more from arising.
J&J has said that it has spent $4.5 billion in jury awards, settlements and legal fees from talc-related suits since 2017.
The company announced in August it would stop selling talc-based baby powder globally in 2023.
With Post wires
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