Court Tosses $950M Punitive Award in J&J Talc Case

Last month’s ruling by Judge Ruth Kwan arises from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Mae K. Moore, who died in 2021 at age 88. Moore had alleged that decades of using Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based baby powder exposed her to asbestos and caused her illness.

In October 2025, a jury found J&J 100% responsible for Moore’s mesothelioma, answering yes to 25 questions covering negligence, product defects, intentional concealment and knowledge of asbestos contamination risks, according to Asbestos.com. Further, they found J&J acted with malice, oppression or fraud. The verdict included $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages.

The court didn’t disturb the compensatory damages award as Judge Kwan found that the jury could reasonably conclude Moore’s illness may have resulted from exposure to asbestos in talc.

Punitive Damages

Judge Kwan’s ruling removes the punitive damages through a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), concluding that the plaintiffs did not meet the legal standard required to prove malice. The court held that there was insufficient evidence that J&J knowingly sold products containing asbestos or acted with conscious disregard for consumer safety. The ruling states that the record did not establish “clearly and convincingly” that the company knew of asbestos contamination and failed to act, a necessary condition for punitive damages under California law.

The decision also addressed the proportionality of punitive damages. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have indicated that punitive awards generally should not exceed a single-digit ratio to compensatory damages. The $950 million award — nearly 60 times the $16 million compensatory damages — would likely have faced constitutional limits even if supported by sufficient evidence.

Appeal

Both parties have indicated they will appeal.

Moore’s family has stated it will challenge the court’s decision to vacate punitive damages, arguing that the jury’s findings were supported by trial evidence, including internal company documents and historical testing records. Those materials included reports and memoranda dating back decades that were presented to establish knowledge of potential asbestos contamination.

Johnson & Johnson has stated it will appeal the remaining findings, including causation and the compensatory damages award. The company maintains that its talc products were asbestos-free and did not cause cancer, citing decades of testing and regulatory review.

Meanwhile, J&J faces tens of thousands of talc lawsuits still working through the courts, including a December 2025 Baltimore jury verdict awarding $1.56 billion to Cherie Craft, a Maryland woman whose mesothelioma has been linked to J&J talc products.

Johnson & Johnson has attempted multiple times to resolve the talc litigation through bankruptcy proceedings, but those efforts have been rejected by federal courts. The company discontinued talc-based baby powder globally in 2023, replacing it with a cornstarch formulation, while continuing to deny that its talc products contained asbestos or posed a cancer risk.

The appeals process in the Moore case is expected to focus on whether the trial evidence supports a finding of malice sufficient to justify punitive damages, as well as the underlying causation findings.