The family of Mae Moore, a California resident who died at age 88 in 2021, sued the company the same year, claiming J&J's talc baby powder products contained asbestos fibers that caused her rare cancer. The jury late on Monday ordered J&J to pay $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages, according to court filings.

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[–] 55 points 1 year ago*

They already created a separate company to assume the liability related this lawsuit years ago. I believe the bankruptcy court ruled against them on this, but that shows you the length they're willing to go to not pay out.

I would be shocked if this wasn't just kicked around for years, until eventually SCOTUS establishes new legal precedent to further help shield large corporations from this type of liability.

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  • [–] 54 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I had a pleurodesis (that's where your lung collapses several times so they glue it to your ribcage with scar tissue to keep it upright) and they offered me a choice of talc, where they blow in the talc powder to create the scar tissue, or mechanical, where they stick a spiked rod in and abrade you from the inside out.

    Despite how unpleasant the latter sounded, my surgeon all but insisted I not go talc, he said I would thank him later.

    Oh, god I do.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Our medical technology these days is miraculous in many ways. Then there are knee replacements and this body horror tale.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    It gets worse but the moral is, don't collapse your lung. I wish someone had told me.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    So what fraction of a percent of the profits they made is the $966m?

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

    Lets see, between its introduction in 1892 to its discontinuation in 2019 we can safely derive a global sales average of $273 million per year (accounted for inflation).

    2019-1892 = 127 years * $273 = $34.67 Billion.

    $966m penalty equates to a 3% deficit to its overall worldwide sales over the lifetime of the product. IE: Nothing.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago