J&J Faces New Lawsuits and Verdicts While Trying to Settle Cases
Legislation & Litigation
Written by Travis Rodgers | Edited by Amy Edel
Johnson & Johnson is facing new legal challenges over its talc products, including a new lawsuit from a Jackson County, Missouri woman. Her lawsuit says decades of using the company’s talc-based baby powder caused her ovarian cancer. A Louisiana jury also recently awarded $10 million to the family of Lynne Roy, a woman who died in 2020 from asbestos-contaminated talc, which caused her mesothelioma.
The cases come as J&J works to settle tens of thousands of talc claims through a proposed $5.5 billion agreement. The company has continued to face individual lawsuits while it seeks approval for the broader settlement.
The proposed settlement doesn’t prevent new lawsuits from being filed or existing cases from moving forward. J&J must still secure the required approval before the agreement can resolve the broader group of claims.
Missouri Woman Sues J&J Over Baby Powder and Ovarian Cancer
The plaintiff filed the suit Aug. 3 in Jackson County Circuit Court. It also names Imerys Talc America, the company that mined and supplied the talc used in the company’s baby powder.
She applied the company’s baby powder to her perineum regularly from 1976 to 2017. Doctors diagnosed her with ovarian cancer in 2017, when she was 59 years old and had no other risk factors for the disease. She didn’t learn about a possible link between talc and ovarian cancer until 2024, and the lawsuit argues that timeline makes her claim timely under Missouri law.
The lawsuit brings 7 counts against J&J and Imerys, including strict liability for failure to warn, negligence, breach of warranty and civil conspiracy. It accuses J&J of marketing its talc products as safe despite research linking talc use to ovarian cancer. A 1982 study found women who regularly used talc in the perineal area faced a 92% higher risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Her diagnosis led to several surgeries, including a procedure to remove as much of the cancerous tissue as possible. She also faced ongoing medical bills and significant pain and suffering from the illness. The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $25,000.
Louisiana Jury Awards $10 Million in Talc Mesothelioma Case
A Louisiana jury awarded $10 million to the family of Lynne Roy, a New Orleans woman who died in 2020 from mesothelioma after decades of exposure to talc products. The trial took place in the Civil District Court for Orleans Parish and lasted 3 weeks before the jury reached its verdict.
The jury concluded that Roy had regular, significant exposure to asbestos from products J&J manufactured or sold and that this exposure was a significant cause of her mesothelioma. Jurors also found the company negligent and determined its products were unreasonably dangerous, largely because J&J failed to warn consumers about possible asbestos contamination.
The total award included $8 million for Roy’s physical pain, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life. Her daughters, Melissa Kaiser and Melanie Roy, each received $1 million for the loss of their mother. The lawyer for the Roy family said her daughters waited more than 6 years for their day in court, largely because of J&J’s previous bankruptcy attempts to resolve its talc litigation.
The jury also found several other defendants, including other talc companies, responsible for contributing to Roy’s death. J&J’s individual share of the verdict came to just over $1.2 million.
Johnson & Johnson’s Ongoing Legal Battle Over Talc
Despite J&J’s ongoing denials that its talc products contained asbestos and caused cancer, it stopped selling talc-based products globally in 2023 and recently offered $5.5 billion to settle tens of thousands of talc lawsuits. That offer still needs approval from 95% of the law firms representing claimants before the company can move forward with any payouts.
J&J previously tried a legal strategy called the “Texas Two-Step,” which involved creating a subsidiary to absorb the lawsuits and then filing that subsidiary for bankruptcy. A federal judge rejected the company’s most recent version of this plan in March 2025 and J&J said afterward it would litigate remaining cases individually.
J&J has yet to file a formal response to the Missouri petition and a hearing date also hasn’t been set. Meanwhile, the company faces additional talc trials in several other states over the coming months.
