Asbestos in Talc Products Verdict Means J&J, Imerys Owe Millions
- Both companies plan to appeal jury’s $117 million award
- Investment banker Stephen Lanzo III sued over his lung cancer
Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
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Johnson & Johnson and a talc-mining company were ordered by jurors to pay $80 million in punitive damages for hiding that their products, including J&J’s iconic baby powder, had been tainted by asbestos and posed a cancer risk.
The New Jersey jury’s award brings to a total of $117 million that J&J and a unit of Imerys SA must pay investment banker Stephen Lanzo III over his claims the companies’ asbestos-laced talc products caused his cancer in what may be a precedent-setting case for U.S. talc litigation.