Johnson & Johnson and two of its subsidiaries were found liable in the asbestos-related death of Theresa Garcia, who was represented by Dean Omar Branham Shirley attorney firm. A jury in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Chicago, IL awarded the Garcia’s family $45 million in damages.

The trial follows two Johnson & Johnson bankruptcy filings that stayed litigation in this and thousands of other cases involving asbestos and talc.

The jury concluded that Garcia’s lifelong use of talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder and other products was the cause of her mesothelioma, a fatal cancer of the lining of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos—which was found in some samples of Johnson’s Baby Powder.

Attorneys for Garcia demonstrated that the talc-containing products manufactured by Johnson & Johnson contained asbestos fibers. Experts explained that the daily use and amount inhaled by Garcia throughout her life led to her mesothelioma. She was diagnosed in January 2020 and died in July of that year.

Attorney Ben Adams, from Dean Omar Branham Shirley, commented:

“Ms. Garcia’s case was delayed by several years when Johnson & Johnson filed two bad faith bankruptcies in an attempt to avoid the decades of liability it now faces. During the pendency of those bad faith bankruptcies, Johnson & Johnson engaged in a corporate shell game creating Kenvue, Inc. The Cook County jury found that Kenvue is responsible for 70% of Mrs. Garcia’s injuries and death as the successor in interest to Johnson & Johnson. The jury also put 15% of the responsibility on Johnson & Johnson and 15% on Johnson & Johnson Holdco, Inc.”

Last year, J&J spun off its consumer products business, which now operates as Kenvue.

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