Johnson & Johnson is balking at paying $30 million in punitive damages on top of a $15 million jury award to a Connecticut man who developed cancer after using the company's talcum powder for decades.
The company has labeled the proposed $30 million figure as "astronomical" and claims there should be no punitive damages at all in the case or, if there must be, no more than $5 million.
In December, a Fairfield County jury ordered the company to pay $15 million in compensatory damages to Evan Plotkin after finding his use of Johnson's Baby Powder significantly contributed to the development of his mesothelioma. Plotkin sued in 2021 soon after he was diagnosed with the fatal disease.
Johnson & Johnson lost its bid to have the judge throw out the jury verdict.
The jury also found that Johnson & Johnson should pay additional punitive damages in an amount decided by the judge overseeing the case. Plotkin's lawyers have asked the judge to approve punitive damages of $30 million, which is twice the compensatory damages and the maximum allowed under the state's statutory cap on punitive damages.
"The Jury in this case found that J&J's conduct was reckless, intentional, and/or malicious. J&J's conduct was extremely reprehensible -- it concealed and ignored the presence of potent carcinogens in their products, which resulted in product users developing an incurable, aggressive, and incurable form of cancer," the legal brief for Plotkin says.
Plotkin's lawyers argue that a punitive damages award of the maximum amount permissible is warranted in this case and would be consistent with other Connecticut cases and with similar cases in other states.
That's not how Johnson & Johnson sees it. The company believes the record does not support any punitive damages at all and certainly not "anything remotely near that figure." However, the company's lawyers say in their brief, if the court disagrees, it should "decline to issue an eight-figure punitive award against a company that engaged in extensive safety efforts."
Instead, the court should award only a nominal award or -- at most -- limit any punitive damages award to $5 million, according to the Johnson & Johnson court memorandum. It bases the $5 million on a case last month in which a jury in the same Connecticut court awarded mesothelioma plaintiffs in another talc case $15 million in compensatory damages and the court approved $7.5 million in punitive damages. The Plotkin case warrants an even lower figure because the $7.5 million punitive damages award was divided between a decedent's estate and his spouse while in the Plotkin case there is only a single, living plaintiff, who will receive the entire amount, according to Johnson & Johnson.
Plotkin's attorneys point out that the plaintiff In the $7.5 million case was 82-years-old at death compared to Plotkin who is 67-years-old now and has to live with a fatal cancer.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson is seeking to settle claims by more than 62,000 baby powder cancer claims through a more than $8 billion settlement in bankruptcy. That matter is currently before a bankruptcy judge in Texas.
Johnson & Johnson stopped selling its talc-based powder products in the U.S. in 2020.