With more than 13,000 existing lawsuits open, the most recent for New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson is an accusation by a woman alleging asbestos in the company’s talcum products has caused her cancer. A California jury in Oakland has found the company guilty and has ordered it to pay $29 million to the victim.
The company, on the other hand, has denied such allegations claiming that its products are checked by experts and numerous studies and tests have already proved that their products are free from any cancer causing substance. The company will now appeal the verdict.
This is not the first of its kind. J&J has a long history of such allegations. A Los Angeles jury last year awarded $21.7 million to a woman who blamed her cancer on the powder. The company has lost a motion to appeal a verdict in Missouri that awarded more than $4 billion to 22 women who accused that the asbestos in the company’s talcum products is the reason for their ovarian cancer.
Following the current lawsuit, shares of the company have fallen sharply. Last summer, in a move to break away from its declining market share, the company launched its iconic baby product line. But the 124 year old company has fallen out of customer preferences that now have turned to cleaner, natural products from trendy upstart brands.
The company saw its shares climb just 8% since the beginning of 2019 and just 4% in past 12 months to clock a market cap of $371.3 billion.