Johnson & Johnson announces $5.5 billion settlement of talc lawsuits
Johnson & Johnson said on Monday (July 28, 2026) it has reached a $5.5 billion settlement that will resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging
Johnson & Johnson said on Monday (July 28, 2026) it has reached a $5.5 billion settlement that will resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and other talc products cause ovarian cancer. Also Read | J&J must pay $15 million to man who says its talc caused his cancer, U.S. jury finds J&J said the settlement will resolve about 69,000 cases consolidated in federal court and related cases in state court, totalling 99.75% of the remaining talc claims.
Plaintiffs’ law firms confirmed the deal on Monday (July 27), saying that it was a good resolution after a decade-long court battle. J&J won a significant court victory in the long-running legal battle last week, when a federal judge cast doubt on individual plaintiffs’ ability to prove that talc specifically caused their ovarian cancer.
J&J has denied that its talc products caused cancer, saying that talc was safe and did not contain asbestos. The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to
a cornstarch product. The litigation resumed in March 2025, after being put on hold for more than three years during J&J’s repeated failed attempts to resolve the lawsuits through a shell company’s bankruptcy.
The BriefWire