LOS ANGELES– A Los Angeles County jury has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $966 million in damages, including $950 million in punitive damages, to the family of Mae Moore, who died of mesothelioma in 2021 after decades of using the company’s baby powder. The verdict, secured by Dean Omar Branham Shirley (DOBS), marks the largest mesothelioma-related talc judgment ever issued against Johnson & Johnson.
“Mae should not have had to suffer because of a product she trusted for use on herself and her children,” said DOBS attorney Danny Kraft. “We are thankful for the time of the jury and the court for hearing her story and providing justice.”
Moore, the wife of a pastor and mother of three, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in December 2020 and died a year later at age 88. Her attorneys presented internal company records and expert testimony showing that Johnson & Johnson had long known its talc products were contaminated with asbestos but continued selling them without warning consumers.
After two days of deliberation, jurors found that Johnson & Johnson acted with malice or oppression by failing to protect consumers, awarding $16 million in actual damages and $950 million in punitive damages to Moore’s family.
“Ms. Moore’s case began in 2021 but was delayed by Johnson & Johnson’s bad faith bankruptcies,” said DOBS Partner Trey Branham. “While justice was slow in coming, the jury spoke and spoke loudly. We remain ever hopeful that Johnson & Johnson will finally accept responsibility for these senseless deaths.”
Dean Omar Branham Shirley has won several major verdicts this year in mesothelioma talc cases, including $3 million in New Orleans, $42.6 million in Boston, $16 million in Washington state, and $34.2 million in Oregon. The Los Angeles case is Joy Moore et al. v. Avon et al., No. CV-05513, in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The trial team included DOBS attorneys Venus Burns and Lenny Sandoval, along with trial paralegal Ryan Travis of The Trial Group.
