ST. LOUIS • A jury here awarded more than $70 million in damages Thursday night on a woman’s claim that her longtime use of baby powder and other talc-containing Johnson & Johnson products contributed to her ovarian cancer.
The St. Louis Circuit Court jury is the third to award damages over claims that are the basis of about 2,000 pending state and federal lawsuits.
The juries found Johnson & Johnson failed to warn the public of studies linking its talc-containing products like Shower-to-Shower product and Johnson’s Baby Powder to ovarian cancer and conspiring to hide the truth, said Jim Onder, one of the lead attorneys.
All three cases were handled by the Onder Law Firm of Webster Groves, which has advertised nationwide for ovarian cancer patients who suspect baby powder may be linked to their disease.
Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., plans to appeal.
In May, a St. Louis jury ordered the company to pay $55 million to a survivor in South Dakota. In February, a jury awarded $72 million to relatives of an Alabama woman who died of ovarian cancer.
The verdict Thursday in favor of Deborah Giannecchini, of Modesto, Calif., was for $575,000 in medical damages, $2 million in compensatory damages, $65 million in punitive damages against Johnson and Johnson and $2.5 million in punitive damages against Imerys Talc, the provider of the talcum powder.
About half the punitive damages would go toward the Missouri Crime Victim Compensation Fund, Onder said.
Giannecchini, now 63, was 59 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer in 2012. “There isn’t a way to describe how you feel emotionally when you’re told you probably won’t make it beyond the next year,” she said.
She had used talc-containing J&J products for more than 40 years, she said. Talc was found in her ovaries.
"I had no idea there was any risk involved with using them," she said. "It was startling to hear."
Internal J&J memos showed the company was aware of studies linking talc powder to an increased risk of ovarian cancer for decades, Onder said.
The jury voted 10-2 Thursday to find J&J at fault after deliberating for about three hours. One of the jurors did not sign the verdict because she thought the $70 million in damages was not enough, Onder said.
Thursday's verdict is the first to also find Imerys Talc at fault.
There was evidence the two previous plaintiffs had used products containing talcum powder from other manufacturers.
Onder said he expects J&J won't put a warning on its products and will continue a "scorched-earth legal policy" despite the recent verdicts.
"They won't settle until they absolutely have to," he said. "I suspect we will continue to try cases and continue to get verdicts until they understand that juries are telling them to do the right thing."
Carol Goodrich, a spokesperson with Johnson & Johnson, provided this statement: “We deeply sympathize with the women and families impacted by ovarian cancer. We will appeal today’s verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder.
“In fact, two cases pending in New Jersey were dismissed in September 2016 by a state court judge who ruled that plaintiffs’ scientific experts could not adequately support their theories that talcum powder causes ovarian cancer, a decision that highlights the lack of credible scientific evidence behind plaintiffs’ allegations.”
Talcum powder products contain the mineral talc that can absorb moisture and prevent chafing and rash. It is used in eye shadow, blush and some chewing gums as well as baby powder. Some talc naturally contains asbestos, which is known to cause lung cancer. Asbestos has been removed from household talcum products since the 1970s.
The American Cancer Society states research into talc and ovarian cancer is ongoing, and “until more information is available, people concerned about using talcum powder may want to avoid or limit their use of consumer products that contain it.”
