J&J gets $260 million talc verdict overturned in Oregon, new trial ordered

By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) -A state judge in Oregon has overturned a jury’s $260 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) in a lawsuit brought by a woman who said she got mesothelioma, a deadly cancer linked to asbestos exposure, from inhaling the company’s talc powder, the company said on Monday.

Judge Katharine von ter Stegge in Portland granted J&J’s motion to throw out the verdict and hold a new trial in the case at a hearing late on Friday, according to a spokesperson for the company. Von ter Stegge is expected to issue a written opinion explaining her order in the coming days.

Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said the original verdict was “the direct result of numerous egregious errors committed by the plaintiff’s lawyers” and had “no basis in the law or science.”

“While we respect the court and its ruling, we also disagree,” said Trey Branham, a lawyer for plaintiff Kyung Lee.

Branham said Lee would appeal the judge’s decision.

J&J is facing claims by more than 62,000 plaintiffs that its baby powder and other talc products were contaminated with asbestos and caused cancer. Most of the lawsuits involve ovarian and other gynecological cancers, with a small minority over mesothelioma. J&J has said that its talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.

Lee, who sued J&J along with her husband, was diagnosed with mesothelioma last year at age 48. She has said she had inhaled asbestos-tainted talc over a period of more than 30 years, beginning when her mother used it on her when she was a baby and later when she used it herself as a deodorant.

A lawyer for J&J said at trial that Lee’s illness was likely caused by exposure to asbestos used at a factory near where she grew up.

J&J is preparing to have a subsidiary file bankruptcy in order to settle the ovarian and other gynecological cancer lawsuits for about $9 billion. The company has said it has secured support for the deal from well over 75% of claimants, the legal threshold for a judge to approve the kind of bankruptcy settlement J&J has proposed.

The bankruptcy filing and settlement would not affect mesothelioma cases like Lee’s.