Court: Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois

On April 19, a Chicago jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $45 million to the family of a Cook County woman named Theresa Garcia who died from mesothelioma, allegedly caused by exposure to asbestos in various talc powder products.

Plaintiffs claimed that Theresa Garcia inhaled asbestos fibers contained in the talc, citing to lab tests, which demonstrated talc products could contain small amounts of asbestos, which they say could then cause mesothelioma.

In a statement issued following the verdict, J&J stated, “We will immediately appeal, and we expect to prevail as we typically do with aberrant adverse verdicts that have no basis in the law or science and are predicated on clearly erroneous rulings by the trial court – as happened recently when the $223 million award was vacated by the New Jersey appellate court.”

A copy of the verdict sheet can be found here.