Johnson & Johnson on Thursday, 16th November - announced that it has agreed to settle two cases alleging its talc products cause cancer. These were the first cases to be tried after a federal court ruled against Johnson & Johnson's plan to transfer its talc liability to bankruptcy court.
20th Nov (The Justice Now) – The settlements resolving lawsuits brought by two individuals, Rosalino Reyes and Marlin Eagles, who claimed that they contracted mesothelioma due to asbestos in J&J talc powder as part of a more significant agreement to settle all talc-related cases that were brought by lawyers that represent their interests, Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood, the company claimed. Reyes’s family members continued the lawsuit after he died in 2020.
The company has been hit with more than 50,000 cases involving the use of talc, primarily by women who have ovarian cancer. The company claims its Talc products are safe and don’t contain asbestos.
J&J, as well as the lawyers representing plaintiffs, have not disclosed any of the terms of the settlement nor how many cases it dealt with. Reyes’ trial was set to begin the week before, and Eagles were about to start, with the jury selected.
“The Eagles and the Reyes families express thanks to the jurors and courtroom personnel who participated in the trial,” Joseph Satterley and Denyse Clancy, lawyers for the plaintiffs, wrote in an announcement jointly made by the plaintiffs.
“Our negotiations continue with the remaining firms who have a shared interest in achieving a fair and expedient resolution of their client’s talc claims,” J&J declared in an announcement.
“For those firms who elect not to pursue reasoned resolutions, we will continue to aggressively litigate their claims in the tort system, where we have prevailed in the overwhelming majority of the cases tried because the claims are meritless and are based upon junk science.”
Trials in these cases have a mixed history and significant victories for plaintiffs, including the $2.1 billion verdict handed out to 22 women who have ovarian cancer. Last month, a New Jersey appeals court handed out the $223.7 million judgement against the firm, citing the evidence of experts of the plaintiffs’ witnesses to be insufficient.
The company has stopped selling baby powder made of talc in preference to cornstarch-based products in response to a rise in cases of lawsuits as well as “misinformation” about the talc product’s safety.
The agreement comes after J&J was unsuccessful on another occasion in July to bring the claims of tens of thousands regarding talc to bankruptcy court in the hope of being able to resolve them via a planned $8.9 billion agreement. The company is contesting the ruling.
The trials were mostly in limbo as J&J requested bankruptcy court; however, they are now allowed to begin.
Find out more about filing the Talcum Powder Ovarian Cancer Lawsuit
People who were unaware of the talcum powder for years were unaware that it could cause cancer. If you have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and think that talcum-based powder was the cause, you might be eligible to file a lawsuit and claim compensation.
Check if you qualify for legal action today with a FREE case analysis. Our expert legal and case management team will assist you with filing an action if you are legally eligible.
