$110.5M Jury Award in Talcum Powder Lawsuit

On May 08, 2017

St. Louis, MO - In the latest talcum powder case to be heard in a Missouri courtroom, a St. Louis jury has awarded a record $110.5M to a Virginia woman who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Lois Slemp, of Wise, VA, was diagnosed with the condition in 2012, after using Johnson & Johnson's talcum products for more than 40 years. This most recent verdict comes after three other St. Louis juries had awarded multi-million dollar amounts to plaintiffs alleging that J&J's products were responsible for their diagnoses as well. While those cases are being appealed by the corporation. J&J is still facing over 2,000 state and federal lawsuits concerning the health effects of their talcum-based products.

This decision comes directly after a St. Louis jury delivered a verdict for J&J in March, determining that the company was not responsible for the plaintiffs' diagnoses of ovarian cancer. Two separate cases were also thrown out by a New Jersey judge who determined that the evidence linking talc and cancer was not reliable.

Attorneys for Slemp cited studies dating back to the 1970s that had found a connection between talc and instances of ovarian cancer. Among these studies, one found that women who regularly applied talcum-based products on their genital area were at a 40 percent higher risk of developing ovarian cancer. These studies have repeatedly been brought up during the trials, even though the majority of more recent research has not come to the same conclusions.