Recently, A Los Angeles jury has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $966 million to the family of Mae Moore, a California woman who died in 2021 from mesothelioma, marking one of the largest verdicts to date in the company’s ongoing talc litigation.
Moore’s family sued the company the same year of her death, alleging that J&J’s talc-based baby powder contained asbestos fibers that caused her rare and aggressive form of cancer. According to court filings, the jury awarded $16 million in compensatory damages and an additional $950 million in punitive damages.
The verdict adds to a string of major courtroom losses for Johnson & Johnson, which faces more than 67,000 lawsuits claiming that its talc products caused cancer. While most of those cases involve ovarian cancer, a smaller number relate to mesothelioma, a disease linked to asbestos exposure.
Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide vice president of litigation, Erik Haas, said the company will appeal the decision, calling the verdict “egregious and unconstitutional.” Haas criticized the plaintiffs’ arguments as “junk science” and reiterated that the company’s products are safe, do not contain asbestos, and do not cause cancer.
J&J stopped selling its talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020 and later transitioned to a cornstarch-based formulation. The company has attempted multiple times to resolve the extensive talc litigation through bankruptcy filings — efforts that have been rejected three times by federal courts.
Trey Branham, one of the attorneys representing Moore’s family, said after the verdict that the ruling sends a clear message. “We are hopeful that Johnson & Johnson will finally accept responsibility for these senseless deaths,” he said.
While the $966 million judgment could be reduced on appeal — as U.S. Supreme Court precedent generally limits punitive damages to no more than nine times compensatory damages — the case underscores the mounting legal and reputational challenges J&J continues to face over its talc products.
