US court overturns $72 mn award in Johnson & Johnson case linking baby powder to cancer

An appeals court in Missouri while giving the decision on Tuesday, said that the state was not the appropriate jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit.
US court overturns $72 mn award in Johnson & Johnson case linking baby powder to cancer
US court overturns $72 mn award in Johnson & Johnson case linking baby powder to cancer
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A court in the United States has reversed a verdict of February 2016, where $72 million had been awarded to a woman, whose death from cancer was allegedly linked to her use of Johnson and Johnson’s baby powder.

An appeals court in Missouri while giving the decision on Tuesday, said that the state was not the appropriate jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit filed by the plaintiff Jacqueline Fox, 62, of Birmingham, Alabama as per a report in The Philadelphia Tribune.

“In the cases involving non-resident plaintiffs who sued in the state of Missouri, we consistently argued that there was no jurisdiction and we expect the existing verdicts that we are appealing to be reversed,” Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Carole Goodrich said in a statement.

Citing a Supreme Court ruling in June 2017 that placed limits on where injury lawsuits could be filed, the appeals court said state courts cannot hear claims against companies that are not based in the state where the alleged injuries occurred as per a report in Washington Post.

Johnson & Johnson is based in Brunswick, New Jersey.

Jacqueline had claimed in her lawsuit that the baby powder containing talcum which she used for about 25 years, had a part to play in her getting ovarian cancer. She died in 2015.

A jury in February 2016 awarded her $10 million in actual damages and $62 million in punitive damages, which was the first award in the lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson, the report states.

However, the latest ruling has now put the fate of more than 1,000 similar lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson in doubt.

As per the report, most research has so far established almost no link or a mild one between ovarian cancer and baby powder used for feminine hygiene.  

About 22,000 of the 1.7 million new cases of cancer that are likely to be diagnosed in the US this year, would be attributable to ovarian cancer, the report adds.

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