Johnson & Johnson Ordered To Pay $250,000 in Talc Ovarian Cancer Trial
Johnson & Johnson was again found liable for causing a woman’s ovarian cancer. On Friday, a Philadelphia jury awarded $250,000 to the family of a woman who died of the disease after using the company’s talc-based products.
The trial result comes on the heels of a similar verdict in December, which ordered J&J to pay $40 million to two women who blamed their ovarian cancer on talc use.
These trial outcomes are significant as J&J faces more than 67,000 talc lawsuits in federal court over similar claims. After a failed attempt to resolve those lawsuits through a controversial bankruptcy procedure in 2025, J&J resumed taking cases to trial.
With two trials completed since the settlement attempt failed, J&J has yet to earn a win.
What the Latest Talc Lawsuit Verdict Means for Other Cases
J&J being found liable again over claims that its talc can cause ovarian cancer was undoubtedly good news for people who have filed lawsuits. But the trial result was not a resounding win.
The $250,000 payout was far lower than payouts in past cases. The jury opted to award $50,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages, intended to serve as a punishment for the company in question.
“The difference between the verdict in this case and the $40 million verdict in the most recent ovarian cancer talc trial highlights how unpredictable juries can be. Jurors are everyday people from the community who bring their own views about companies, lawyers and lawsuits,” said Whitney Ray Di Bona, attorney and consumer safety advocate at Drugwatch. “While the amounts awarded in these trials vary widely, both juries found J&J responsible for causing the plaintiffs’ cancer.”
Following the verdict, J&J said that it planned to appeal the ruling. More talc ovarian cancer trials are likely to take place over the rest of the year. The outcome of those cases will be critical to the larger litigation.
If major losses continue to mount, pressure could build for J&J to agree to a wider settlement instead of risking taking more claims before juries.
The company is also facing similar lawsuits over claims that its talc products contained asbestos and are tied to the development of mesothelioma. J&J has faced severe losses in some of those cases.
A Baltimore jury ordered the company to pay more than $1.5 billion in a mesothelioma trial in December.
J&J stopped selling talc-based powder in North America in 2020. Litigation involving both ovarian cancer claims and mesothelioma claims continues to advance to trial.
