When it comes to the overall health of your family, you make sure that you are using the right products. One of the most trusted brands by mothers all over the world is Johnson & Johnson. However, what if you suddenly find out that the brand admitted how their products have caused a lot of women to have ovarian cancer.
A Ruined Reputation
For years now their products have been proven and tested by mothers and now it would seem that the tables have turned, that is because some women are accusing one of the biggest companies in the world of having asbestos on their baby powders that caused them to have ovarian cancer.
Earlier this week the jury has spoken and they have awarded $4.69 billion to the women who filed the complaint against the company. Judge Rex Burlison of the court of Missouri required Johnson & Johnson are required to pay $4.14 billion for the damages that they have caused as well as $550 million more for the compensatory damages.
It turns out that there are 22 women who filed for the complaint, they went to court with their families and claimed that they were all diagnosed with ovarian cancer due to the asbestos contamination.
It was also reported that for so many years now, Johnson & Johnson are known to have that risk of asbestos contamination, but claimed that it was something that isn’t harmful.
This definitely made a massive effect on the company’s stocks since they fell hard with a 10 percent loss and will most likely continue to struggle after the decision from the court has been posted.
The company also announced that they are planning to do a $5 million buyback plan on their stocks and has taken out full-page ads on newspapers to inform the consumers what the need to know about Talc.
The company is now facing over 12,000 plaintiffs and all of them are cases related to talc since it is said to be the cause of their ovarian cancer, while others claimed that it was the asbestos that did it.
Wells Fargo, on the other hand, believe that despite everything that has been going on with the company, they will most likely outperform more in the stocks market. Shares have also dropped by 11 percent last week other experts think that this will continue if the company doesn’t settle the issue in their favor as soon as they can. It is believed that this will either just die down just like any other cases against billion-dollar companies or it might ruin the brand forever, which experts think is very unlikely to happen considering how many years it has been.
The Verdict
One of the lawyers of the women involved said in a statement that they are all very pleased with the decision that was made by the court in favor of them, however, the representatives of the company stated that it is not over yet since they will make an appeal and the result might reverse the situation.
In an interview with CNBC earlier this week, the chief executive of the said company Alex Grosky said that based on a lot of studies that the company has done over the years, their talc does not contain any asbestos. In almost every trial the company has been present, but there was one particular trial that revealed the company being negligent although they weren’t exactly responsible for the damages.
According to the judge from the case filed in Missouri court, there was substantial evidence against the company since they admitted to being well aware of having asbestos in their products that may have out both mothers and babies at risk and the safety of the products containing asbestos have all been misrepresented all these years.
This wasn’t the first time that this happened because around the same time last year almost 5,000 women all over the country sued Johnson & Johnson. However, the only difference is that last year, all these cases were filed individually so they didn’t exacerbate worked as a team against the company. It is still unknown when this case will be closed and how the jury will take the appeal that the company will file against the bid earlier this week.