A Missouri judge upheld the $110 million jury award to a Virginia woman who claimed decades of daily use of Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder products caused her ovarian cancer.
Proper jurisdiction can be established in the state based on the "significant role" played by Missouri-based PharmaTech in the processing, labeling, packaging and distribution of Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products, according to the ruling by Judge Rex Burlison of the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court.
Burlison upheld the verdict after it was called into question following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in a Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. case that determined where companies can be sued.
The jury in Missouri had awarded $5.4 million in compensatory damages and $105 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and co-defendant Imerys Talc America, which mines and supplies the talc used in the products.
Lois Slemp, the plaintiff, alleged that more than four decades of using talc-containing feminine hygiene products, including Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower, led to the development of her cancer.
Last year, three St. Louis trials brought by other women with ovarian cancer led to jury verdicts of $70 million, $72 million and $55 million against Johnson & Johnson and Imerys.
