BOSTON — A Melrose man was awarded more than $42 million Tuesday after a jury agreed he had developed mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, from decades of using Johnson & Johnson talc products.
Paul Lovell and his wife Kathryn sued the company in 2021, claiming Johnson & Johnson’s products contained asbestos and Paul was sickened after he inhaled the fibers. They claimed J&J knew the product contained asbestos and would be inhaled when it was used, but did nothing to warn consumers about the risks.
The jury awarded the Lovells $42,608,300 for pain and suffering, medical expenses and other damages.
In a statement, attorneys for the Lovells said they hope J&J will acknowledge its liability and not make the family go through years of appeals to confirm that the company’s baby powder caused Paul Lovell’s disease.
During the two-week trial, jurors heard arguments from Dean Omar Branham Shirley attorneys Aaron Chapman and Danny Kraft, who detailed how Johnson & Johnson and its affiliated entities knowingly concealed for decades the health risks associated with their talc products.
The attorneys presented internal documents showing the company’s awareness of asbestos contamination, its failure to adopt safer alternatives and systematic manipulation of scientific testing methods. The jury agreed that the company not only failed to warn consumers, but also actively misled the public and regulators by suppressing test results and spreading false assurances about product safety.
“This verdict is not just about Paul Lovell. It’s about every consumer who was told these products were safe,” said Chapman. “For years, Johnson & Johnson ignored its own internal warnings and scientific evidence about the presence of asbestos in its talc. The jury has sent a strong message: Corporate misconduct will not be tolerated.”
Lovell, 69, and his wife have been married for 45 years. A father of four, he used Johnson’s Baby Powder on himself and his children, trusting it was safe. They have lived in the same home in Melrose for decades.
“Paul never worked in a factory, never used joint compound, and never had any occupational exposure to asbestos. Instead, like untold millions of Americans, he was a lifelong user of J&J’s Baby Powder,” said Kraft. “He trusted the product on himself and on his children.”
The jury found the company’s actions amounted to negligence and breach of warranty. The Lovell family was also represented by Leslie-Anne Taylor of Thornton Law Firm LLP.
Erik Haas, J&J’s global vice president of litigation, said the verdict was based on “junk science” and the company plans to immediately appeal.
The company says that its products are safe, do not contain asbestos and do not cause cancer. J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product.
In the past year, the company has been hit with several substantial verdicts in mesothelioma cases. In April of last year, an Illinois jury awarded a woman with mesothelioma $45 million. Several months later, an Oregon jury awarded another woman $260 million. In October, the company was hit with a $15 million verdict in another mesothelioma case, and earlier this year, a jury awarded a Massachusetts woman $8 million.
However, the company has had success on appeal. In September, an Oregon state judge granted J&J’s motion to throw out the $260 million verdict in a mesothelioma case and hold a new trial.
Cases alleging Johnson & Johnson’s talc products caused mesothelioma are part of sprawling litigation in federal and state court claiming the products cause that and other cancers, including ovarian cancer.
Johnson & Johnson is facing lawsuits from more than 63,000 plaintiffs who say they were diagnosed with cancer after using baby powder and other talc products, according to court filings.
That number is as high as 100,000 when counting claimants who haven’t sued, Haas has said.
The number of lawsuits alleging talc caused mesothelioma is a small subset of these cases. The vast majority allege ovarian cancer.
Johnson & Johnson has sought to resolve claims through bankruptcy, a proposal that faced stiff opposition from some plaintiffs’ attorneys and has been rejected three times by federal courts.
In March, a U.S. bankruptcy judge rejected the latest proposal, which would have seen the company paying $10 billion to end thousands of lawsuits over claims its talc products caused gynecologic cancers.
Lawsuits alleging talc caused mesothelioma were not part of the last bankruptcy proposal. The company has previously settled some of those claims but has not struck a nationwide settlement.
The case is Paul and Kathryn Lovell v. Johnson & Johnson, case number 21-2086 in the Massachusetts Superior Court for Middlesex County. The case was heard in Suffolk Superior Court.
For the Lovells: Danny Kraft Jr and Aaron Chapman of Dean Omar Branham Shirley, and Leslie-Anne Taylor and Andrea Marino Landry of Thornton Law Firm.
For J&J: Daniel McCarthy and Alicia Chouinard of Manning Gross + Massenburg.
— Material from Reuters and a Dean Omar Branham Shirley press release were used in this report.