$72 Million Awarded to Woman in Talc Lawsuit

$72 million was awarded to a woman who used talcum powder for 35 years in a talcum powder lawsuit.

In early 2016, a talcum powder lawsuit was filed in a St. Louis County court against Johnson & Johnson Inc. One plaintiff, Marvin Fox, filed suit on behalf of his mother, Jacqueline Salter Fox, who developed fatal ovarian cancer after 35 years of using Johnson & Johnson baby powder and shower products. Fox’s suit was part of a 60 person civil suit filed in Missouri. The jury charged the pharmaceutical company with fraud, negligence, and conspiracy, and awarded Fox $10 million in damages and $62 million in punitive damages.

Fox was a loving mother, a foster mother, a caretaker, a hard-working American, and, sadly, just one of the thousands of women who were put at an increased risk of ovarian cancer by using Shower-to-Shower. Just months before her death, Fox explained to attorneys, that she was “raised on” Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower talc. Like many women in the African American community, Fox was taught to use Shower talc as part of her daily feminine hygiene routine – just the way J&J intended it to be used.

The Fox case was important in bringing forward some risk factors previously not considered. Although studies show that Caucasian women are at a higher risk than any other race to develop ovarian cancer, documents brought out during the trial show that Johnson & Johnson intentionally targeted African American and Hispanic women in their advertising of “A Sprinkle A Day.” And in fact, many African American and Hispanic women note that using talc for feminine hygiene was second nature and it had been a routine they followed as long as they can remember. The Fox case is likely to be the first of many cases brought by African American women and we expect to talk to many women in the Hispanic community for similar reasons.

African American woman who contract ovarian cancer as a result of talc use, have a much higher mortality rate – 7.2 black women per 100,000 died of cancer compared to 4.1 per 100,000 for all other races.