Johnson & Johnson once promoted themselves as America’s brand with their commercials of babies and American-like commitment abound years ago, but 2016 has shed a much different light on the company defined by juries across the country, and 2017 could easily be worse for the once-trusted corporate giant.
In 2016 alone, Johnson & Johnson broke-all-time records for jury verdicts.
The verdicts included:
– In February 2016, a St. Louis jury ordered J&J to pay $72 million to a Plaintiff who died of ovarian cancer caused by talculm powder;
– In March 2016 a Texas jury ordered J&J to pay $500 million to five Plaintiffs for their metal-on-metal hip implants;
– In May 2016, a Missouri jury ordered J&J to pay $55 million to a woman injured by their talculm powder;
– In October 2016, a St. Louis jury ordered J&J to pay just over $70 million to a California woman injured by their talculm powder;
– In December 2016, a Dallas jury ordered J&J to pay $1 billion to six Plaintiffs for their metal-on-metal hip implants.
Apparently Johnson & Johnson did not heed the jury warnings in 2016, as 2017 has started off with a similar bang. J&J had a $20 million ($17.5 million in punitives) verdict handed to them in Philadelphia last week relating to their transvaginal mesh product.
What is unprecedented, is not only the multiple verdicts against a major American company in such a short period of time, but also the punitive damages awards that have been levied together with them.
Some legal commentators might dismiss the verdicts as “runaway juries” in “plaintiff friendly jurisdictions” however such is not the case when verdicts of this sheer size are coming from such conservative jurisdictions as Texas and Missouri.
Punitive damages are awarded in rare instances. There is a high bar for a Plaintiff to even get punitives before a jury (prior to same being dismissed by a judge). Here, against J&J, they are not only surviving dismissal, but they are getting enormous attention by the juries who are clearly sending a very stern message.
With multiple trials teed up against J&J accross the country over the next 8 months, J&J’s 2017 verdicts could easily make 2016 look like a drop in the bucket.
