A US jury has awarded a large sum to the family of a woman who sued Johnson & Johnson, claiming its talc-based baby powder caused her ovarian cancer.
A jury in Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ruled in favour of Gayle Emerson’s family, who argued Johnson & Johnson knew for years that its talc products were dangerous but didn’t warn consumers.
Emerson’s family was awarded $US50,000 ($NZ82,750) in compensatory damages and $US200,000 in punitive damages.
Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide VP of litigation, stated the company will appeal the verdict.
“This token verdict reflects the jury’s appreciation that the claims were meritless and divorced from the science,” Haas said.
Leigh O’Dell of Beasley Allen Law Firm, representing Emerson’s family, stated the jury “found J&J’s product and corporate conduct directly responsible for the death of Ms Emerson.”
“While the jury’s award is less than we hoped, and significantly less than the amount necessary to punish J&J for their outrageous conduct, we are moving forward,” O’Dell said.
Emerson, a Pennsylvania resident, sued in 2019 and died six months later at age 68 from metastatic ovarian cancer, per court records. Her son and daughter then continued the case as plaintiffs.
According to her lawsuit, Emerson used J&J baby powder from 1969 to 2017, when a relative informed her of its link to higher ovarian cancer risk. She had been diagnosed with the cancer two years prior.
Johnson & Johnson faces lawsuits in federal and state courts from over 67,000 plaintiffs alleging its talc products contained asbestos and caused ovarian and other cancers, per court filings.
Johnson & Johnson insists its products are safe, asbestos-free, and do not cause cancer. The company halted talc-based baby powder sales in the US in 2020 and globally in 2023, shifting to cornstarch.
The company has tried resolving the lawsuits via bankruptcy—a strategy rejected three times by federal courts, most recently in April 2025. These filings had paused most ovarian cancer cases.
After the bankruptcy pause was lifted, the first ovarian cancer trial ended with a California jury awarding $40 million to two women in December 2025.
Several state court trials are scheduled in coming months. No federal trial has occurred yet—where most claims are consolidated—but that may change this year after a US federal magistrate judge’s January 2026 ruling allowing plaintiffs’ experts to testify on baby powder’s ovarian cancer link.
Johnson & Johnson plans to appeal that ruling.
In product liability cases like those against J&J, experts are crucial for proving the product could cause the claimed harm.
Prior to its bankruptcy efforts, J&J posted a mixed talc trial record, including massive verdicts up to $4.69 billion, outright wins in some cases, and reductions on appeal in others.
Most J&J talc lawsuits allege ovarian cancer, while claims linking talc to rare, deadly mesothelioma form a much smaller share.
J&J has settled some claims in the past but lacks a nationwide deal, so many have gone to trial in state courts recently.