Johnson & Johnson to pay $4.96 bn in damages in baby powder lawsuit
Washington, July 13: A jury in the US on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $4.69 billion in damages to 22 women and their families who had claimed the company's talcum powder products caused them to develop ovarian cancer.
The compensation awarded by a jury in St. Louis, Missouri, is divided into $550 million in compensatory damages and another $4.14 billion in punitive damages, Efe reported.
This is the largest damages Johnson & Johnson has faced to date among about 9,000 similar cases.
The plaintiffs, six of whom have already died, alleged that asbestos found in the baby-product company's talcum powder caused their ovarian cancer since the 1970s.
Johnson & Johnson, which has announced that it will appeal against the verdict, argues that its talc products do not contain asbestos or cause cancer.
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Fire at mass marriage event attended by Dy CM Shivakumar, nobody affected
Raichur (Karnataka) (PTI): Fire broke out near the stage of the mass marriage event that was attended by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar here, police said on Sunday.
Nobody was affected, and the fire was immediately put out, they said.
The fire was noticed shortly after Shivakumar and other dignitaries left the stage, and Forest Minister Eshwaran Khandre was speaking to the media at the venue in Sindhanur, officials said.
According to officials, wires, speakers, and cloth materials near the stage caught fire, allegedly due to a short circuit.
Police personnel present at the spot quickly swung into action and extinguished the fire.
The programme was halted for some time and resumed later, they said.
Several ministers, legislators and political leaders from the region, and actor Sudeep had attended the event.
