The lawsuit was filed at the English High Court on Tuesday towards J&J and Kenvue UK Limited, a subsidiary of Kenvue, J&J’s former client well being unit which was spun off in 2023.
KP Law stated it filed the case on behalf of greater than 3,000 individuals who allege their ovarian most cancers, mesothelioma or different illnesses had been attributable to use of J&J’s child powder between 1965 and 2023.
The agency says J&J’s talc merchandise contained carcinogenic fibres, together with asbestos, which has been linked to lethal mesothelioma. J&J has lengthy maintained that its talc merchandise are secure and don’t comprise asbestos.
J&J referred queries to Kenvue, which it stated “retained the responsibility and any purported liability for talc-related litigation outside of the United States and Canada”.
Kenvue stated in an announcement that J&J child powder “did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer”.
Latest Lawsuits Over Talc
J&J is individually going through tens of hundreds of lawsuits in the U.S., the place claimants allege they had been identified with most cancers after utilizing child powder and different firm talc merchandise.
J&J stopped promoting talc-based child powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product. It did the identical in the United Kingdom in 2023.
The firm has sought to resolve the litigation by way of chapter, a technique that has been rejected 3 times by federal courts.
Last week, J&J was ordered to pay $966 million to the household of a girl who died from mesothelioma, one among the largest awarded towards the firm that may very well be lowered on enchantment.
Damages awarded by courts in England are typically restricted to compensation for losses attributable to a defendant’s actions, whereas $950 million of final week’s award in the U.S. was for punitive damages.
In England, courts can award so-called exemplary damages the place, for instance, a defendant has wilfully wronged a claimant, although sums are sometimes far smaller than in the U.S.
KP Law stated it had estimated the worth of the lawsuit at round 1 billion kilos ($1.34 billion).
Significantly, these lawsuits – like nearly all civil fits in England – will likely be decided by a choose, fairly than a jury.
Kenvue stated in its assertion that it believed a choose will conclude its talc-based child powder doesn’t trigger most cancers.
By Sam Tobin
Learn extra:
Johnson & Johnson Ordered To Pay $966 Million in Talc Cancer Case
A Los Angeles jury ordered J&J to pay $966 million to the household of a girl who died from mesothelioma, discovering the firm liable in the newest trial alleging its talc merchandise trigger most cancers.