J&J's Risk From Tainted-Talc Lawsuits Only Gets Bigger in 2019
- Company may have to pay $20 billion to resolve 12,000 claims
- Reports J&J knew of asbestors in baby powder since the 1970s
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Johnson & Johnson paid a steep price this year for claims that its celebrated baby powder was contaminated with asbestos. Problem is, 2019 could be even worse.
A jury ordered the company in July to pay $4.69 billion to 22 women who blamed the talc-based product for causing their ovarian cancer. The prospect of similar judgments helped erase $45 billion in J&J’s market value, with the shares headed for their biggest annual loss in a decade.