On Wednesday, April 11, 2018, a New Jersey state jury slammed Johnson & Johnson and its talc supplier with combined punitive damages of $80 million after finding that the pharmaceutical giant acted with reckless indifference in selling asbestos-containing talcum powder that contributed to a man's development of mesothelioma.

After awarding last week a $37 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson and the company's French-based talc supplier, Imerys Talc America Inc. for its talcum powder causing cancer, comes news that the jury found the two companies also must pay an additional $80 million in punitive damages for selling a product that contains cancer-causing asbestos particles that the company failed to disclose to the public.

Some consumers have been using Johnson & Johnson talc products for years, even using it for babies because the marketing of the product condoned it as safe. Years later, comes word that even though corporate executives were aware of the dangers in its talc products, they failed to tell the public about its research in this area.

A jury sent a clear message to the corporations when it awarded $37 million in compensatory damages to a New Jersey man on April 5, 2018, who was diagnosed with mesothelioma that is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. The New Jersey man, Stephen Lanzo, had inhaled the asbestos fibers from the talcum powder dust for more than 30 years before contracting the deadly lung disease. He and his wife will receive the combined $117 million. 

Experts at that two-month trial in New Jersey state court revealed that the company used asbestos-carrying talc, instead of using something safer like cornstarch. Asbestos can cause deadly diseases such as cancer of the lungs, mesothelioma, as the New Jersey man did. And it is made worse when the company fails to tell the public so it can't make proper and informed decisions.

Johnson & Johnson faces about 6,600 lawsuits around the country over similar claims.