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Johnson & Johnson must pay $US18.8 million ($27.6 million) to a California man who said he developed cancer from exposure to its baby powder, a US jury has decided.
Key points:
- Emory Hernandez Valadez says he developed cancer in the tissue around his heart as a result of long-term exposure to the company's talc
- J&J says it will appeal the ruling to pay him damages, calling it "irreconcilable" with scientific evaluations confirming their baby powder is safe
- The company has filed for bankruptcy a second time, estimating the costs of all its talc-related lawsuits have reached about $6.6 billion
Tuesday's decision comes as the company seeks to settle thousands of similar cases over its talc-based products in US bankruptcy court.
The jury ruled in favour of Emory Hernandez Valadez, who filed the lawsuit last year in a California state court, seeking monetary damages from J&J.
Mr Hernandez, 24, has said he developed the deadly cancer mesothelioma in the tissue around his heart as a result of heavy exposure to the company's talc since childhood.
The six-week trial over J&J's talc was the first that the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company has faced in almost two years.
The jury found that Mr Hernandez was entitled to damages to compensate him for his medical bills and pain and suffering, but declined to award punitive damages against the company.
Mr Hernandez will not be able to collect the judgment in the foreseeable future, thanks to a bankruptcy court order freezing most litigation over J&J's talc.
J&J vice president of litigation Erik Haas said in a statement that the company would appeal the verdict, calling it "irreconcilable with the decades of independent scientific evaluations confirming Johnson's Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer".
A lawyer for Mr Hernandez could not immediately be reached for comment.
In closing arguments to the jury on July 10, J&J's lawyers said there was no evidence either linking Mr Hernandez's kind of mesothelioma to asbestos or proving that Mr Hernandez was ever exposed to tainted talc.
Mr Hernandez's lawyers during closing arguments accused J&J of a "despicable" decades-long cover-up of asbestos contamination.
Mr Hernandez testified in June, telling jurors that he would have avoided J&J's talc if he had been warned that it contained asbestos, as his lawsuit alleges.
Jurors heard from Mr Hernandez's mother, Anna Camacho, who said she used large amounts of J&J's baby powder on her son when he was a baby and through childhood.
She cried as she described Mr Hernandez's illness.
J&J files for second bankruptcy
Tens of thousands of plaintiffs have sued, alleging that J&J's baby powder and other talc products sometimes contained asbestos and caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.
J&J has said its talc products are safe and do not contain asbestos, which has been linked to mesothelioma.
J&J subsidiary LTL Management in April filed for bankruptcy in Trenton, New Jersey, proposing to pay $8.9 billion to settle more than 38,000 lawsuits and prevent new cases from coming forward.
It was the company's second attempt to resolve talc claims in bankruptcy, after a federal appeals court rejected an earlier bid.
Most litigation has been halted during bankruptcy proceedings, but US Chief Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan, who is overseeing LTL's Chapter 11, let Mr Hernandez's trial proceed because he is expected to live only a short time.
Mr Hernandez's form of mesothelioma is extremely rare, making his case different from the vast majority pending against J&J.
Asbestos plaintiffs are seeking to have LTL's latest bankruptcy filing dismissed.
They have argued the filing was brought in bad faith to insulate the company from litigation.
J&J and LTL have argued that bankruptcy delivers settlement payouts to plaintiffs more fairly, efficiently and equitably than trial courts, which they have likened to a "lottery" in which some litigants get large awards and others nothing.
J&J said in bankruptcy court filings that the costs of its talc-related verdicts, settlements and legal fees have reached about $6.6 billion.
Reuters