$4.69 bn verdict against Johnson & Johnson over cancer from talc

Investors are likely to increase their focus on the talc cases on the heels of the large award for the plaintiffs

Johnson & Johnson fell after a jury ordered the company to pay $4.69 billion to women who claimed asbestos in the company’s talc products caused them to develop ovarian cancer, marking the sixth-largest product-defect verdict in US history.

The award of $4.14 billion in punitive damages and $550 million to compensate 22 women and their families for their losses sent shares of the health-care and consumer-products giant down 1.9 per cent to $125.28 at 8:03 a.m. in premarket trading on Friday in New York. The verdict on Thursday by jurors in St. Louis city court came in the first test of