Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay nearly $4.7 billion in damages to 22 women and their families who say asbestos found in the company’s talcum powder contributed to their ovarian cancer.
The St. Louis Circuit Court jury awarded $4.14 billion in punitive damages and $550 million in compensatory damages to the plaintiffs, who said the company failed to warn about the cancer risks.
According to MarketWatch, the punitive damages award was “the biggest single verdict in such cases so far.”
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