Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson faced yet another legal setback after a jury in California ruled that the company must pay $18.8 million (R$89 million equivalent) to Emory Hernandez Valadez, a 24-year-old man who developed cancer due to exposure to baby powder from company.
Hernandez's case is one of thousands of similar lawsuits related to Johnson & Johnson's talc-based products. Currently, these processes are being treated in a courtof bankruptcies in the US.
see more
PicPay will now charge a fee for inactivity; see how it will work
Family receives $800,000 compensation after nuggets burn…
rare type of cancer
Emory Hernandez Valadez filed the suit in California state court in Oakland last year seeking monetary damages.
He claimed he developed mesothelioma, a deadly type of cancer, due to heavy exposure to Johnson & Johnson baby powder passed down from childhood. The six-week trial was the first on this product that Johnson & Johnson has faced in nearly two years.
(Image: Bloomberg/Reproduction)
The jury found in Hernandez's favor, ruling that he is entitled to compensation to compensate for his medical expenses and suffering.
However, the jury declined to award punitive damages against the company. Johnson & Johnson is currently under a bankruptcy court order that has frozen much of its talc-related litigation, which means Hernandez will not be sentenced in the future. next.
Johnson & Johnson Vice President of Litigation Erik Haas announced that the company will appeal the ruling. According to him, the decision is not in accordance with decades of independent scientific evaluations, which confirm the safety of Johnson & Johnson's baby powder.
Thus, the product, according to the company, does not contain asbestos or cause cancer. On the other hand, Hernandez's lawyers accused the drugmaker of covering up the asbestos contamination for decades.
The case is just one of many currently pending against Johnson & Johnson in connection with baby powder and other talc-based substances.
Tens of thousands of individuals sued the company, claiming that such products contained asbestos and caused Ovary cancerand mesothelioma, as in the case of Emory Hernandez Valadez.
While Johnson & Johnson insists that its talc products are safe and free of asbestos, the company has filed a bankruptcy through its subsidiary, LTL Management, in an attempt to resolve more than 38,000 lawsuits and prevent new ones from arise.
Although most litigation was stopped due to the bankruptcy process, the judgment of Hernandez continued, as he is expected to live only a short time due to the extreme rarity of his type of mesothelioma.
The asbestos plaintiffs are seeking to have LTL's latest bankruptcy filing dismissed, pointing out that the filing was carried out in bad faith to protect the company from future litigation.
As the legal battle rages on, Johnson & Johnson is grappling with the financial burden of these lawsuits. The costs of talc-related verdicts, settlements and attorney fees already amount to about $4.5 billion.
The outcome of these cases will have significant implications for both the company and the victimsclaiming to have been harmed by exposure to Johnson & Johnson baby powder.
