Overview

• The panel awarded $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages to the family of Mae Moore, who died of mesothelioma in 2021.
• Jurors found J&J liable after hearing claims that talc powders, including Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower, contained asbestos and that risks were concealed.
• J&J maintains its talc products are asbestos-free and safe and says the Moore case relied on “junk science.”
• The company faces more than 67,000 talc lawsuits, and it halted talc Baby Powder sales in the U.S. in 2020 before ending talc sales by 2023.
• Large punitive awards in talc cases have often been reduced on appeal, including a 2018 verdict cut from $4.7 billion to $2.1 billion, and courts have rejected J&J’s bankruptcy-based resolution attempts.