Johnson & Johnson has been directed by a US court to pay Rs 200 crore in damages after a talcum power sold by the pharmaceutical giant caused ovarian cancer. The Missouri Court of Appeals lowered the original $4.69 billion verdict from July 2018 to $2.12 billion. The court agreed that some plaintiffs should not have been included in the case as they were from outside the state.
The court, however, upheld the imposition of damages on the company for "knowingly selling products that contained asbestos to consumers."
The judgement said, because defendants are large, multi-billion-dollar corporations, we believe a large amount of punitive damages is necessary to have an effect in this case. "It is impossible to place a monetary value on the physical, mental and emotional anguish plaintiffs suffered because of their injury caused by defendants," it added.
Johnson and Johnson, however, said it would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of Missouri, Wall Street Journal quoted a company spokesperson as saying.
In 2019 a California jury became the latest to award millions in damages to a plaintiff who said the company's baby powder had given her terminal cancer.
Last month the firm announced it was discontinuing production of its talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada, in part due to the "constant barrage of litigation advertising" over the product.
It will continue to sell the product in the rest of the world, it added.
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