Johnson & Johnson Lawsuit​: A Pattern of Profits Over People

Johnson & Johnson built one of the most trusted brand names in American history on the back of baby powder, Band-Aid^®, and the promise of “family.” For over a century, the red logo was shorthand for safety. For a corporation that quite literally put the word “care” in its mission statement, the legal record tells a very different story.

Tens of thousands of lawsuits. Multibillion-dollar verdicts. Allegations of buried science and silenced warnings. Criminal settlements. A bankruptcy maneuver so aggressive that federal courts rejected it — 3 times. And a company that, through all of it, has never stopped insisting its products are safe, regardless of how many Americans have died.

The J&J Lawsuit Landscape at a Glance

Most people know Johnson & Johnson from the talc headlines. The baby powder lawsuits have generated billions in verdicts and dominated the news cycle for years. But talc is just one chapter in a much longer book.

The Johnson and Johnson lawsuit list includes:

• Talc: Tens of thousands of lawsuits linking J&J’s baby powder to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. J&J quietly discontinued talc-based powder in the U.S. and Canada in 2020 and globally in 2023 — while still claiming it was safe.
• Opioids: J&J’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen helped fuel the opioid crisis. The company reached a landmark $5 billion settlement with U.S. states.
• Risperdal^®: J&J paid $2.2 billion in a criminal and civil settlement over off-label marketing of an antipsychotic drug to children and the elderly. Hundreds of boys developed gynecomastia — abnormal breast tissue growth.
• DePuy hip implants: Metal-on-metal hip devices were recalled in 2010 after failing at catastrophic rates, leaving patients needing revision surgeries. J&J set up a $2.5 billion settlement fund.
• Hernia mesh: Thousands of lawsuits were filed over complications from Ethicon-brand surgical mesh products.
• COVID-19 vaccine: J&J’s Janssen COVID shot was linked to rare but serious blood clotting events and was pulled from the U.S. market in 2023.
• Power morcellators: These devices used in hysterectomies could spread undetected uterine cancer, despite internal concerns going back years.
• Mentor breast implants: Lawsuits alleged complications from implants sold by J&J subsidiary Mentor Corporation.
• Tylenol^®: J&J’s 1982 Tylenol poisoning crisis is still taught in business schools. Less discussed: the 2010 recall of tens of millions of bottles of children’s Tylenol over contamination and quality failures.

The TLDR: This isn’t a company that had one bad product. This is a company with a documented, decades-long pattern of prioritizing sales over safety warnings — and then using its considerable legal and financial resources to limit the fallout.

Johnson & Johnson Litigation: Not Just 1 Product, Not Just 1 Problem

J&J’s legal exposure spans multiple product lines, multiple subsidiaries, and multiple decades. The allegations follow a familiar pattern: Internal research flagged risks, warnings were delayed or watered down, and sales continued.

When the lawsuits finally came, the company fought back hard — sometimes with legal tactics that drew as much scrutiny as the underlying cases.

What’s remarkable isn’t any single lawsuit. It’s the sheer volume and consistency of the allegations across completely different products and divisions. At some point, that stops looking like a series of isolated mistakes and starts looking like a business model.

Johnson & Johnson Talc Lawsuit​s: The Headline That Won’t Go Away

Baby powder. Two words that once meant gentleness, freshness, the smell of a nursery. For Johnson & Johnson, those two words now mean something else: the largest product liability litigation in the company’s history.

For decades, J&J’s iconic talcum powder was marketed heavily to women for personal hygiene. Generations of women used it daily.

What those women weren’t told — and what lawsuits allege J&J knew for years — is that the talc used in those products may have been contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen, and that regular use was associated with elevated risks of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.

Here’s what to know about J&J talc lawsuits:

• Internal documents surfaced in litigation have suggested that J&J scientists were aware of asbestos contamination concerns in their talc supply going back to the 1970s.
• Studies linking talc use to ovarian cancer began appearing in medical literature in the 1980s. The company disputed, minimized, and lobbied against those findings for decades.
• The lawsuit count climbed into the tens of thousands. Juries didn’t look kindly on what they heard. In 2018, a Missouri jury returned a $4.69 billion verdict in a case involving 22 women with ovarian cancer.
• In 2019, a jury awarded $325 million to a mesothelioma victim.
• In 2020, J&J announced it would stop selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. and Canada, citing “misinformation” and declining sales — not safety concerns.
• In 2023, it extended the discontinuation globally. Both times, J&J maintained that the product was safe. Attorneys for victims had a field day with that framing.
• The verdicts keep coming, with two whoppers in 2025 — a $966 million jury verdict in California and a $1.5 billion jury verdict in Maryland.

As of 2026, talc litigation remains one of the most active mass tort dockets in the country, with courts continuing to hold the company liable for selling asbestos-contaminated talc products without warning of the risks.

The Johnson & Johnson Opioid Crisis

When the history of the opioid epidemic is written, Johnson & Johnson will be in it. J&J’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen manufactured opioid painkillers, including Duragesic^® (fentanyl patches) and Nucynta^®.

But the company’s role in the crisis went deeper than its own products: J&J was also a major supplier of the raw opioid ingredients used by other manufacturers, operating through subsidiaries that supplied active pharmaceutical ingredients to companies like Purdue Pharma.

Here’s the lowdown on the Johnson and Johnson opioid lawsuit​:

• Oklahoma was the first state to take J&J to trial. In 2019, a judge found that J&J had helped fuel the opioid epidemic through deceptive marketing and ordered the company to pay $465 million. The legal battles were just beginning.
• In 2021, a Johnson and Johnson opioid settlement​ with nearly all U.S. states was brokered with a $5 billion payout over 9 years as part of a broader $26 billion opioid settlement. The money was directed toward addiction treatment and recovery programs across the country.

Despite the massive J&J opioid settlement, the company denied wrongdoing. Thousands of communities devastated by opioid addiction found that claim hard to swallow.

The Johnson and Johnson Risperdal Scandal

One of the most disturbing episodes in modern pharmaceutical history, Risperdal (risperidone) is an antipsychotic medication approved by the FDA for specific conditions in adults. J&J’s Janssen subsidiary had much bigger plans for it.

Sales reps were allegedly instructed to pitch it to doctors treating children with behavioral issues, people with dementia, and elderly patients in nursing homes — uses the FDA had never approved.

Here’s what to know about the Johnson & Johnson Risperdal lawsuit​:

• In 2013, J&J entered into a $2.2 billion criminal and civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice — at the time, one of the largest pharmaceutical fraud settlements ever.
• Janssen pleaded guilty to misbranding, admitting that it had marketed Risperdal for uses that were not FDA-approved and that were not safe and effective. But the criminal plea was almost a footnote compared to what emerged in civil litigation.
• Hundreds of boys and young men alleged that they had developed gynecomastia, abnormal male breast tissue growth, as a result of being prescribed Risperdal.
• The drug elevated prolactin levels, the hormone associated with breast development. Boys as young as 5 were affected.
• Individual jury trials in Philadelphia produced staggering verdicts. In one Johnson and Johnson Risperdal case, a jury awarded $8 billion against J&J — later reduced, but the number made headlines around the world.
• Internal documents that emerged in courtroom discovery showed that Janssen’s own medical officers had raised concerns about the prolactin issue — concerns that surprisingly (not) did not make it into the company’s promotional materials.

The image of a corporation marketing a drug to children that caused breast development in boys, while sales reps allegedly downplayed the risks to doctors, became one of the defining examples of pharmaceutical industry misconduct.

Johnson and Johnson Depuy Lawsuits: When Implants Cause Harm

DePuy Synthes, a J&J subsidiary, was one of the leading manufacturers of hip replacement devices in the world.

Its metal-on-metal articular surface replacement (ASR) hip system was supposed to be a durable, long-lasting solution for patients with severe hip deterioration. It turned out to be something else entirely.

Find out about Johnson and Johnson Depuy Synthes recall lawsuits:

• In 2010, a Johnson and Johnson DePuy hip recall for approximately 93,000 ASR hip devices occurred after data showed they were failing at rates far higher than competing implants.
• The metal-on-metal design caused a phenomenon called metallosis — the grinding of metal components, releasing cobalt and chromium ions into the surrounding tissue.
• Patients experienced severe pain, tissue death, and bone erosion. Many required complex, painful revision surgeries.
• The lawsuits were almost immediate. Allegations in the litigation included claims that DePuy was aware of design problems before the recall but continued selling the devices.

By the time J&J had settled the bulk of the litigation, the company had committed more than $4 billion to resolve claims — making the Johnson and Johnson DePuy settlement one of the largest medical device settlements in U.S. history.

Johnson and Johnson Hernia Mesh Lawsuit​s

Ethicon, J&J’s surgical products subsidiary, manufactures hernia mesh — implantable devices used to repair hernias and reinforce weakened abdominal tissue. For many patients, those devices caused far more problems than they solved.

Here’s the scoop on the Johnson & Johnson mesh lawsuit​:

• Thousands of patients have alleged that Ethicon’s hernia mesh products were defectively designed or manufactured, leading to complications including chronic pain, mesh migration, bowel obstruction, infection, and the need for additional surgeries.
• Many described their lives as fundamentally changed — unable to work, in constant pain, and facing the prospect of multiple revision procedures.
• J&J has faced hernia mesh litigation in both federal and state courts.
• The company has disputed the claims and pointed to FDA clearances as evidence of the products’ safety — a defense that victims’ attorneys counter by noting that FDA clearance does not require clinical trials demonstrating safety and effectiveness.

Johnson and Johnson hernia mesh lawsuit settlements​ in individual cases have been reached, though the litigation continues.

Johnson and Johnson COVID Vaccine and Blood Clots

When J&J’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine received emergency use authorization in February 2021, it was hailed as a game-changer — a single-dose option that could help speed vaccination efforts.

Within weeks, reports began emerging of a rare but serious side effect: thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), a condition involving dangerous blood clots combined with low platelet counts.

Here’s what to know about the Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine lawsuit​:

• In April 2021, federal health agencies paused administration of the J&J vaccine for 11 days to investigate. The vaccine was ultimately cleared to continue, with new warnings added.
• But concerns persisted about Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine side effects like blood clot risks, about a rare neurological condition called Guillain-Barré syndrome, and about the overall benefit-risk calculus compared to mRNA vaccines.
• In April 2023, the CDC and FDA updated their guidance to express a preference for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines over J&J’s shot, citing the risk of TTS.
• J&J announced it would no longer distribute the vaccine in the U.S.

Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine class action lawsuit​s have been filed alleging that J&J and Janssen failed to adequately warn about the risk of blood clots. The Johnson and Johnson COVID shot litigation is ongoing.

Johnson and Johnson Power Morcellators: Making Minor Procedures a Major Concern

Power morcellators are surgical devices used to cut tissue into smaller pieces for removal during minimally invasive procedures like hysterectomies. J&J’s Ethicon division was a leading manufacturer of these devices.

The problem: If a patient had an undetected uterine cancer, something that can’t always be identified before surgery, a power morcellator could scatter cancerous cells throughout the abdominal cavity, dramatically worsening a patient’s prognosis.

The FDA issued a safety communication about this risk in 2014. J&J subsequently pulled its power morcellators from the market. Lawsuits followed from women who alleged that J&J had known about the risk of spreading cancer but failed to adequately warn surgeons and patients.

At one time, the FDA reported that Johnson and Johnson power morcellators were spreading undiagnosed cancer in about 1 in 350 women.

Johnson & Johnson Breast Implant Lawsuit

J&J acquired Mentor Corporation, one of the two major U.S. breast implant manufacturers, in 2009.

Mentor’s silicone and saline implants have been the subject of lawsuits alleging a list of complications: rupture, capsular contracture, implant-associated lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), and a constellation of symptoms described as “breast implant illness.”

Litigation involving Johnson and Johnson breast implants has grown as awareness of BIA-ALCL — a rare cancer associated with textured implant surfaces — has increased.

The FDA issued warnings, and certain textured implants were recalled. Mentor and Johnson & Johnson breast implants lawsuits allege that the companies knew about the cancer risk and failed to disclose it adequately.

Johnson and Johnson Tylenol Crisis

Any honest accounting of J&J’s history has to include the 1982 Johnson and Johnson Tylenol crisis — and the lesson the company says it learned from it.

In the fall of 1982, 7 people in the Chicago area died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that had been laced with cyanide. The perpetrator was never caught.

J&J’s response — a nationwide recall of 31 million bottles, cooperation with authorities, and the introduction of tamper-evident packaging — became the gold standard of crisis management. Business schools still teach it.

What gets less attention is the Johnson and Johnson Tylenol recall in 2010: 

• J&J recalled more than 43 different children’s and infants’ Tylenol, Motrin^®, Zyrtec^®, and Benadryl^® products after quality problems at a manufacturing plant led to products that were contaminated, had improper concentrations of active ingredients, or contained visible particles.
• A congressional hearing revealed that J&J had conducted what investigators called a “phantom recall” — quietly buying up problematic products from store shelves rather than issuing a formal recall, apparently to avoid regulatory scrutiny.
• The company paid $25 million to settle Department of Justice charges related to manufacturing failures at its McNeil Consumer Healthcare division.

The contrast between the Tylenol Johnson and Johnson recall in 1982 and 2010 is instructive. The lesson J&J taught in business school was apparently not universal within J&J itself.

Johnson and Johnson Lawsuit Settlement​s & Verdicts

Johnson & Johnson’s legal history reads like a financial statement of corporate accountability — or what happens when it’s forced. The tab across talc, opioids, Risperdal, defective hip implants, hernia mesh, and Tylenol manufacturing failures runs well into the tens of billions.

Key J&J Lawsuit Settlements and Verdicts at a Glance

• $5 billion from J&J as part of a $26 billion national opioid settlement with nearly all U.S. states
• $4 billion to settle nearly 8,000 DePuy ASR hip lawsuits, plus $420 million for an additional 1,800 cases
• $2.2 billion criminal and civil DOJ settlement for off-label Risperdal marketing
• $2.12 billion for 22 Missouri women diagnosed with ovarian cancer linked to J&J talc products
• $1.5 billion for a Maryland woman diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma linked to J&J baby powder
• $1.1 billion to resolve the majority of remaining Philadelphia Risperdal gynecomastia cases
• $1 billion J&J settlement to resolve more than 95% of the roughly 6,000 DePuy Pinnacle hip revision cases
• $966 million for the family of a California woman who died from mesothelioma linked to decades of J&J talc use
• $800 million in recorded expenses resolving thousands of Risperdal gynecomastia claims
• $700 million multistate Johnson and Johnson settlement resolving a 42-state investigation into J&J’s talc marketing practices
• $502 million Texas jury verdict for five DePuy Pinnacle hip plaintiffs, including $360 million in punitive damages
• $465 million ordered against Janssen by an Oklahoma judge — the first opioid manufacturer to go to trial
• $260 million for an Oregon woman diagnosed with mesothelioma linked to J&J baby powder she used from infancy
• $247 million verdict for six DePuy Pinnacle hip patients in a Dallas bellwether trial
• $181 million paid to 36 states and D.C. for Medicaid fraud tied to Risperdal marketing
• $158 million to Texas for unlawful Risperdal marketing to Medicaid patients
• $120 million DePuy settlement with 46 state attorneys general over misleading longevity claims
• $100 million resolving over 1,000 claims of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma linked to J&J talc products
• $70 million Philadelphia jury verdict for a man whose Risperdal use caused gynecomastia
• $65.5 million for a Minnesota woman diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma linked to J&J baby powder
• $63.4 million for a South Carolina man diagnosed with mesothelioma linked to J&J talc products
• $45 million for the family of an Illinois woman who died from mesothelioma linked to J&J and Kenvue baby powder
• $42.6 million for a Massachusetts man diagnosed with mesothelioma linked to J&J baby powder
• $40 million for two California women diagnosed with ovarian cancer linked to J&J talc products
• $25 million for a Connecticut man diagnosed with mesothelioma linked to J&J baby powder
• $25 million DOJ settlement over Tylenol manufacturing failures and the phantom recall
• $20 million for the family of a Florida physician who died from mesothelioma linked to 50 years of J&J talc use
• $13.7 million verdict against Ethicon for a transvaginal mesh case, including $10 million in punitive damages
• $8 billion punitive verdict, later reduced to $6.8 million, in another J&J Risperdal case

Across these alone cases, Johnson & Johnson has paid or been ordered to pay more than $21 billion in settlements and verdicts. That figure excludes confidential settlements and verdicts that we just didn’t list.

The true lifetime tab, when all is said and done, will be considerably higher — which is one of the reasons why J&J landed at #2 on our worst companies hall of shame list.

$1.5 Billion Johnson and Johnson Talc Verdict​

In December 2025, a Maryland jury handed down the largest single-plaintiff talc award in history against J&J. A 59-year-old woman who developed peritoneal mesothelioma alleged that decades of exposure to J&J’s asbestos-contaminated baby powder caused her cancer.

Jurors found that J&J failed to warn consumers about the potential presence of asbestos in their talc products — a finding that has now been repeated in courtrooms across the country.

The verdict sent a message that the company can’t easily spin. After years of J&J insisting its products were safe, a Maryland jury put $1.5 billion behind their disagreement.

Nearly $1 Billion J&J Baby Powder Mesothelioma Verdict​

A Los Angeles jury awarded the family of Mae Moore nearly $1 billion after finding that J&J’s baby powder caused her mesothelioma. Moore died in 2021 at age 88.

Jurors awarded $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages — a figure intended to punish the company, not just compensate the family.

A judge later threw out the punitive damages portion, finding insufficient evidence that J&J acted with malice. The family’s attorneys announced plans to appeal.

$260 Million J&J Talc Verdict for Mesothelioma

Kyung Lee was first exposed to J&J’s talc as an infant, when her mother used it on her. She then used it herself as a deodorant for over 30 years. She was diagnosed with mesothelioma at 48.

An Oregon jury awarded her $260 million after finding that asbestos in J&J’s baby powder was a substantial factor in causing her cancer. A judge later ordered a new trial, which is currently under appeal.

The case is notable not just for its size but for its timeline — a lifetime of exposure, beginning before she could make any choice about it herself.

$100 Million Johnson and Johnson Talc Settlement

In 2020, J&J reached its first major group settlement in the talc litigation, agreeing to pay $100 million to resolve more than 1,000 ovarian cancer and mesothelioma claims. The company resolved the cases without admitting wrongdoing and continued to insist its products were safe.

At the time, tens of thousands of additional claims remained pending — making this settlement less a resolution than an early installment.

The Johnson and Johnson talc settlement set a precedent, though: J&J was willing to pay, even while denying responsibility. Victims’ attorneys noted the tension in that position.

$65.5 Million Johnson & Johnson Talc Verdict​

A Minnesota jury awarded $65.5 million to Anna Jean Houghton Carley, a mother of 3 who developed pleural mesothelioma after years of using J&J’s baby powder. She was 37 years old — a detail that landed heavily at trial.

Jurors found that J&J failed to warn consumers that its talc could be contaminated with asbestos. Her attorney framed it plainly: The case was about truth and accountability, not just money.

The verdict added to a growing body of judgments from juries who have heard the internal evidence and concluded that J&J’s public assurances did not match what the company knew privately.

$63.4 Million J&J Talc Verdict for Mesothelioma

Michael Perry used J&J’s baby powder daily for years — not by preference, but because a deodorant allergy left him few alternatives. He developed mesothelioma. A South Carolina jury awarded him and his wife $63.4 million.

Evidence presented at trial showed J&J was aware of potential asbestos contamination in its talc supply as early as 1970. Jurors found the company acted with reckless disregard for consumer safety.

Both J&J and beauty product manufacturer American International Industries were found negligent — a reminder that asbestos-contaminated talc moved through a supply chain, and accountability doesn’t stop at the brand name on the bottle.

$45 Million J&J Baby Powder Mesothelioma Verdict​

A Chicago jury found both J&J and its subsidiary Kenvue liable for the mesothelioma death of Theresa Garcia, an Illinois mother of 6 and grandmother who died in 2020.

Jurors assigned 70% of the responsibility to Kenvue and 30% to J&J — a split that reflects the complicated corporate restructuring behind the familiar baby powder brand.

The family alleged that both companies sold talc products they knew were contaminated with asbestos. The $45 million award reflected Garcia’s loss as well as the jury’s conclusion that companies have to bear the cost of concealing health risks.

$42.6 Million Johnson & Johnson Verdict

A Boston jury awarded $42.6 million to Paul and Kathryn Lovell after finding that J&J’s baby powder caused Paul’s mesothelioma — believed to be the largest mesothelioma verdict in Massachusetts history.

Internal company documents and expert testimony showed that J&J knew its talc products contained asbestos and failed to warn consumers or regulators. Jurors found the company negligent and held it accountable for what they concluded was deliberate concealment.

For the Lovells, the Johnson & Johnson verdict represented something beyond the money. It was a finding — on the record, in a court of law — that J&J’s silence had consequences.

$40 Million Johnson and Johnson Ovarian Cancer Lawsuit Award

A California jury awarded a combined $40 million to Debra Schulz and Monica Kent in a bellwether trial closely watched as a test case for ovarian cancer claims.

Schulz received $22 million; Kent received $18 million. Both women alleged that J&J’s talc-based products caused their ovarian cancer.

Internal documents and expert testimony presented at trial indicated J&J was aware its talc could contain asbestos — and kept quiet about it. An attorney for the women described it bluntly: J&J knew, and spent years doing everything it could to bury the truth.

$25 Million Johnson & Johnson Mesothelioma Lawsuit Verdict

Businessman, artist, father Evan Plotkin developed mesothelioma after a lifetime of J&J talc exposure that began in the 1950s and continued into the 2000s, when he used the product on his own children.

A Connecticut jury initially awarded $15 million. A judge later added $10 million in punitive damages, finding that J&J’s conduct warranted additional penalty. The final award came to $25 million.

The multi-generational nature of Plotkin’s exposure — parent to child, decade after decade — illustrates exactly why victims’ attorneys argue that adequate warnings would have changed everything.

$20 Million Johnson & Johnson Asbestos Lawsuit​ Verdict

A Florida jury ordered J&J to pay $20 million to the family of a nephrologist who died from mesothelioma after using the company’s baby powder for 5 decades.

Attorneys presented evidence that J&J marketed its talc under a long-standing “promise of purity” while internally aware that asbestos contamination was possible.

Jurors concluded that J&J failed to uphold that promise — and that 50 years of a customer’s trust had been misplaced. The case is a stark illustration of the gap between J&J’s public messaging and what its own internal records suggested about product safety.

$2.12 Billion J&J Ovarian Cancer​ Verdict

In 2018, a Missouri jury delivered what was then the largest talc verdict in history: $4.69 billion for 22 women who developed ovarian cancer after years of using J&J products. J&J appealed.

A Missouri appellate court reduced the award to $2.12 billion — but upheld the jury’s core findings, including that J&J had prioritized profits over consumer safety.

The verdict didn’t just produce a massive number. It opened the floodgates. Thousands of additional claimants filed suits in the months that followed, many citing the Missouri findings as validation of what they’d long suspected.

$700 Million Johnson and Johnson Asbestos Settlement

In June 2024, J&J agreed to pay $700 million to resolve a joint investigation by 42 states and Washington, D.C. into how the company marketed its talc-based products.

The Johnson and Johnson asbestos settlement addressed allegations that J&J misled consumers about the safety of baby powder and other talc products linked to mesothelioma and ovarian cancer.

New York Attorney General Letitia James called J&J’s conduct toward communities targeted by its talc marketing “very cruel” — and noted plainly that no dollar amount can undo the harm already caused.

The settlement resolved the marketing investigation but left the underlying personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits untouched. Those continue.

$5 Billion Johnson and Johnson Opioid Settlement

In July 2021, J&J finalized its share of a landmark $26 billion national opioid settlement, agreeing to pay up to $5 billion over 9 years. The deal resolved legal claims from nearly every U.S. state and thousands of counties and municipalities.

J&J’s role in the opioid crisis went beyond its own painkiller brands. Through subsidiaries Tasmanian Alkaloids and Noramco, the company supplied roughly 60% of the raw opioid ingredients used in drugs like oxycodone across the industry as recently as 2016.

This supply chain role allegedly made J&J a structural enabler of the epidemic, not just a peripheral player. The company stopped selling opioid medications in the U.S. in 2020. It attributed the decision to business factors. The timing was noted.

$465 Million Johnson and Johnson Opioid Lawsuit Verdict

In August 2019, an Oklahoma judge became the first in the country to find an opioid manufacturer liable for fueling the epidemic, ordering J&J’s Janssen subsidiary to pay $572 million — later revised to $465 million to correct a calculation error.

The court found that Janssen had engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading marketing of opioids and had helped create a public nuisance in Oklahoma.

J&J appealed, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately reversed the judgment in 2021, finding that public nuisance law didn’t extend to the marketing of products. But the trial — and the internal documents it surfaced — set the tone for thousands of cases that followed.

$2.2 Billion Johnson and Johnson Risperdal settlement

In November 2013, J&J agreed to pay $2.2 billion to resolve a Department of Justice investigation into the marketing of Risperdal and two other drugs.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals pleaded guilty to a criminal misbranding charge, admitting it had promoted Risperdal for uses the FDA had never approved and that were not shown to be safe and effective.

The federal criminal fine of $485 million was the largest criminal fine ever imposed in a health care fraud case at the time. The remaining amount resolved civil False Claims Act allegations that J&J’s off-label marketing drove fraudulent Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.

Billions for J&J Risperdal Lawsuits

Risperdal’s effect on prolactin levels was documented in Janssen’s own internal research. Elevated prolactin can trigger breast development — and for hundreds of boys who were prescribed the drug for behavioral or developmental conditions, it did.

Individual trials in Philadelphia produced extraordinary numbers:

• In 2016, a Philadelphia jury awarded Andrew Yount $70 million after finding Janssen failed to adequately warn about gynecomastia risks.
• In 2019, a jury handed Nicholas Murray an $8 billion punitive award — later reduced by a judge to $6.8 million, but the original number reflected the depth of jury outrage at the evidence presented.

By 2021, Johnson and Johnson settlements for Risperdal​ had resolved thousands of gynecomastia cases, recording $800 million in related expenses.

In 2024, an additional J&J Risperdal lawsuit settlement of up to $1.1 billion resolved most of the remaining Philadelphia cases on the eve of trial.

J&J Risperdal Settlements for State Medicaid Fraud

Before the federal settlement landed, multiple states had already extracted their own pound of flesh. In 2012, J&J paid $181 million to 36 states and Washington, D.C. to resolve charges that the company unlawfully marketed Risperdal and misled state Medicaid programs.

Texas alone received $158 million after its attorney general found J&J had profited from Medicaid by overstating the drug’s safety and effectiveness for unapproved uses.

Arkansas jurors similarly found that J&J and Janssen misled doctors about Risperdal’s safety — a verdict J&J appealed. The company fought these cases state by state while the federal criminal investigation was closing in.

$4 Billion Johnson and Johnson Hip Replacement Lawsuit Settlement

The ASR hip system was recalled after data showed it was failing in more than 10% of patients within 5 years and generated the largest portion of DePuy’s liability.

In 2013, DePuy and J&J agreed to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 8,000 ASR claims in the U.S., followed by an additional $420 million in 2015 to resolve roughly 1,800 more cases.

The recalls affected approximately 93,000 devices worldwide. Patients who’d undergone revision surgery, a significantly more complex and risky procedure than the original implantation, were at the center of most claims.

$502 J&J DePuy Hip Implant Verdict

A Texas federal jury awarded $502 million to 5 patients who’d received DePuy’s Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implant — a separate product line from the recalled ASR system.

The verdict included $142 million in compensatory damages and $360 million in punitive damages after jurors heard 37 days of testimony and found J&J liable for gross negligence, fraud, and failure to warn.

The verdict was a bellwether for roughly 7,000 other Pinnacle plaintiffs. J&J appealed, and a federal appeals court later overturned the punitive damages portion. But the verdict’s size signaled what juries were thinking when they heard the internal evidence.

A later Dallas bellwether trial produced another $247 million verdict for 6 Pinnacle patients — the third consecutive jury to side with plaintiffs over J&J in Pinnacle trials.

$1 Billion J&J DePuy Hip Settlement

In 2019, J&J agreed to pay approximately $1 billion to resolve more than 95% of the roughly 6,000 Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip cases in which patients had undergone revision surgery. The settlement covered patients who’d had the implant removed due to defects that left them in pain and unable to walk normally.

J&J pulled the Pinnacle metal-on-metal device from the U.S. market in 2013 — 3 years after the ASR recall. Patients who received it during those years, and who were told they had a durable long-term solution, had instead received a device the company would quietly discontinue.

The $1 billion settlement came after years of jury verdicts had made the alternative clear.

Johnson and Johnson Hernia Mesh Lawsuit Settlements

Ethicon’s Physiomesh Flexible Composite hernia mesh was at the center of J&J’s largest hernia mesh litigation. Patients alleged that the device’s design led to high rates of complications including recurrent hernias, mesh migration, infection, and chronic pain.

J&J pulled the Physiomesh from markets in Europe in 2016 after registries there flagged higher-than-expected complication and reoperation rates. The product was not immediately pulled from the U.S. market, a disparity that became a central issue in litigation.

In December 2023, J&J and Ethicon settled the last of the Physiomesh cases across the federal MDL in Georgia and New Jersey multicounty litigation — resolving more than 4,000 claims.

Johnson and Johnson hernia mesh lawsuit settlement terms were confidential, which victims’ attorneys have noted was a deliberate strategy to prevent any floor from being set for remaining or future claimants.

$13.7 J&J Ethicon Transvaginal Mesh Lawsuit​ Verdict

Separate from hernia repair products, Ethicon’s transvaginal mesh devices generated their own wave of litigation. This mesh used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.

In one case, Sharon Carlino was awarded $13.7 million after a jury found that Ethicon’s TVT mesh tape caused her injuries and that her physician would not have used the product had he been properly warned about the risks.

Carlino had required two mesh revision surgeries and suffered from chronic pain and scarring. The jury’s $10 million punitive damages award reflected its view of how Ethicon had handled warnings to the medical community.

In 2016, J&J offered $120 million to settle more than 42,000 Ethicon transvaginal mesh lawsuits — a figure widely characterized as a lowball offer that ultimately resolved only a fraction of the pending claims.

$25 Million Johnson and Johnson Tylenol Settlement

In 2015, J&J paid $25 million to resolve Department of Justice charges tied to manufacturing failures at its McNeil Consumer Healthcare subsidiary — the division that makes Tylenol, Motrin®, and other over-the-counter staples.

The underlying problems were serious: contaminated products, incorrect ingredient concentrations, and a quality control breakdown that led to one of the largest children’s medication recalls in U.S. history — more than 40 million bottles pulled in 2010.

A congressional investigation found that J&J had conducted a “phantom recall” prior to the formal one, sending contractors to quietly buy up problematic products from store shelves rather than issuing a public notice.

Did Johnson & Johnson Know About the Risks?

This is the question at the center of nearly every J&J lawsuit: How much did the company know, and when did it know it?

Across product lines, the answer that has emerged in discovery and at trial is uncomfortable for the company:

• Talc and asbestos: Internal J&J documents produced in litigation have shown that company scientists and executives were aware of testing that found asbestos fibers in talc samples going back to the 1970s. One 1973 internal memo referenced testing that found “fibrous tremolite” — a form of asbestos — in talc.
• Risperdal and prolactin: Internal documents in Risperdal litigation showed that Janssen’s own scientists had flagged the drug’s effect on prolactin levels — and that this information did not make it into the sales materials. Marketing messages to physicians about safety were disputed in court by the company’s own internal communications.
• DePuy and failure rates: DePuy’s internal data on ASR hip implant failure rates was a central issue in litigation. Plaintiffs alleged that company representatives were aware of higher-than-expected failure rates before the recall and did not disclose that information to patients or physicians in a timely manner.
• Opioids: Marketing materials for opioids created by Janssen were found by courts and investigators to minimize addiction risks in ways that contradicted scientific evidence. One court specifically found that Janssen’s marketing had “overstated the benefits” and “downplayed the risks” of opioids.

The pattern is not consistent with a series of innocent mistakes. It is consistent with a company that made calculated decisions about what to tell people and what to keep quiet.

The Texas Two-Step: A Legal Strategy to Limit Accountability

Just when you thought J&J’s legal story couldn’t get more audacious, there’s the Texas Two-Step:

1. Facing the prospect of tens of thousands of talc trials and potentially hundreds of billions in liability, J&J devised an unusual strategy. Using a Texas law designed to facilitate corporate restructuring, the company created a new subsidiary (LTL Management LLC) and transferred all of its talc liability to that entity. LTL then filed for bankruptcy.
2. The strategy, known as the “Texas Two-Step,” was designed to accomplish something remarkable: allow J&J, a company worth over $400 billion, to use the bankruptcy system to cap its liability at a proposed $8 billion.
3. Courts didn’t buy it. Three times. A federal appeals court dismissed the first LTL bankruptcy in January 2023, finding that LTL was not in financial distress as required by bankruptcy law.
4. J&J tried again with a slightly restructured approach, and the second attempt was also rejected. The courts found the maneuver an abuse of the bankruptcy process — a company using the protections designed for the insolvent to shield itself from accountability while remaining very much solvent.
5. A third attempt didn’t fare any better and was again rejected in 2025.

The Texas Two-Step became a broader legal flashpoint, prompting calls for reform of the laws that allow profitable companies to create liability-only subsidiaries and file them into bankruptcy. Whatever the outcome in J&J’s case, the strategy will be studied in law schools for years.

Johnson and Johnson Subsidiaries: A Tangled Web

Part of what makes J&J’s litigation history so complex is the labyrinthine corporate structure behind the red logo.

Dozens of Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries operate across the pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer health sectors.

So, what companies does Johnson & Johnson own?

• Janssen Pharmaceuticals (and Janssen-Cilag internationally): J&J’s primary pharmaceutical subsidiary, responsible for Risperdal, Duragesic, Nucynta, and the COVID-19 vaccine. Multiple criminal and civil settlements.
• Ethicon: J&J’s surgical products subsidiary, manufacturer of hernia mesh and power morcellators.
• DePuy Synthes: Orthopedic devices, including the recalled ASR hip system.
• Mentor Corporation: Breast implant manufacturer acquired in 2009.
• McNeil Consumer Healthcare: Manufacturer of Tylenol, Motrin, and other over-the-counter products. Subject of DOJ settlement over manufacturing failures.
• LTL Management LLC: The now-defunct subsidiary created specifically to hold talc liabilities for the Texas Two-Step bankruptcy maneuver.
• Kenvue: In 2023, J&J spun off its consumer health division — including Band-Aid, Neutrogena, Aveeno, Tylenol, and Listerine — as a separate publicly traded company called Kenvue. The spinoff effectively separated J&J’s consumer brand legacy from its pharmaceutical and medical device operations.
• Red River Talc LLC: A subsequent liability-holding entity created in another attempt to resolve talc claims through the bankruptcy system.

When J&J settles a case, the subsidiary structure matters enormously. Victims have had to navigate corporate structures carefully to ensure any judgment or settlement reaches the entity with actual assets.

Health Risks Linked to Johnson & Johnson Products

Johnson & Johnson didn’t stumble into billion-dollar litigation by accident. Behind every settlement and every verdict is a person — and a diagnosis.

Ovarian cancer from baby powder used daily for decades. Mesothelioma from a product marketed as pure. Gynecomastia in a child prescribed an antipsychotic drug off-label. A hip implant that poisoned the tissue around it.

Internal memos, suppressed studies, marketing materials that contradicted the science: the paper trail that emerged in discovery across these cases tells a consistent story about how J&J weighed consumer safety against the cost of a warning.

These are the injuries at the center of that story.

Ovarian Cancer

Talcum powder use in the genital area has been linked to ovarian cancer in multiple studies over several decades. Victims allege that talc particles can migrate through the female reproductive tract and cause inflammatory changes that promote cancer development.

A 2020 meta-analysis in Epidemiology and Public Health found statistically significant associations — as much as a 33% increased risk of ovarian cancer from perineal talc use.

J&J’s talc products were marketed specifically to women for feminine hygiene use. The marketing targeted women of color disproportionately, a disparity that has been highlighted in public health contexts.

What makes the ovarian cancer cases particularly damning isn’t just the science — it’s the paper trail. A declassified 1982 internal memo revealed that J&J executives discussed whether to add a warning label to talc products after a U.S. National Cancer Institute study found women who regularly used talc powder faced a 30% higher risk of ovarian cancer.

The company decided against the warning.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a rare, aggressive cancer caused exclusively by asbestos exposure. Lawsuits allege that J&J’s talc products were contaminated with asbestos fibers, and that consumers who used those products over years developed mesothelioma as a result.

Because mesothelioma has a latency period of 10 to 50 years, people diagnosed today may have been exposed to J&J talc decades ago.

The internal documentation on this point is extensive and specific:

• As far back as 1957 and 1958, a lab found tremolite — a form of asbestos — in talc sourced from J&J’s Italian supplier.
• By 1967, asbestos had also been found in Vermont mines owned by a J&J subsidiary.
• In April 1969, an internal company document explicitly acknowledged that tremolite in its talc could cause “pulmonary diseases and cancer” — and noted the risk of litigation.
• By 1971, someone inside J&J was writing memos stating that there was “no place for asbestos in talc” and that “any talc with asbestos should be removed from the market.”
• That same year, another internal memo acknowledged “the need to upgrade quality control for talc and baby powder to address the asbestos content.” These weren’t outsiders raising concerns. These were J&J’s own people — and the products stayed on shelves for nearly 5 more decades.
• Perhaps most striking: a 1974 internal memo in which a J&J official wrote that “our very preliminary calculation indicates that substantial asbestos can be allowed safely in a baby powder.” A company executive had apparently done the math on how much of a known carcinogen could be tolerated in a product marketed to mothers and their infants.
• Missouri Circuit Court Judge Rex Burlison — in the ruling following the landmark $4.69 billion Missouri verdict — found “substantial evidence” of “particularly reprehensible conduct,” writing that J&J executives “knew of the presence of asbestos in products that they knowingly targeted for sale to mothers and babies, knew of the damage their products caused, and misrepresented the safety of these products for decades.”
• In December 2025, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler testified at trial that J&J had hidden the risks associated with its talc products for 50 years.
• And in 1993, a J&J memo revealed that records at its Vermont mine had been destroyed by mine managers while the company still owned the property. This was the main source of baby powder talc from 1966 to 1990.

J&J mesothelioma cases have resulted in some of the largest individual verdicts in the talc litigation. Mesothelioma patients have a very limited life expectancy after diagnosis, adding urgency — and jury sympathy — to their cases.

Opioid Addiction and Overdose

J&J’s contribution to the opioid crisis involved both direct marketing and supply chain complicity. Janssen’s opioid marketing materials consistently underplayed the risks of addiction and dependence — a finding courts have confirmed.

At the same time, J&J subsidiaries Tasmanian Alkaloids and Noramco were major suppliers of the raw opioid ingredients that flowed to other manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma.

The human cost of the opioid epidemic is staggering. More than 500,000 Americans died of opioid overdose between 1999 and 2019. The share of responsibility assignable to any single company is debated, but courts found J&J’s role was not trivial.

Device-Related Complications and Chronic Pain

DePuy’s metal-on-metal hip implants caused a category of harm called metallosis — metal ion poisoning resulting from the grinding of cobalt-chromium components.

Patients experienced symptoms including:

• Severe pain at the implant site
• Fluid accumulation
• Soft tissue and bone destruction
• Systemic cobalt toxicity affecting the heart, thyroid, and nervous system

Revision surgery for these failures is significantly more complex and risky than the original implantation.

Hernia mesh complications documented in lawsuits include mesh erosion into adjacent organs, chronic nerve pain, bowel obstruction, fistula formation, and recurrence of the hernia requiring additional surgery. For some patients, the complications have proven impossible to fully remediate.

What connects all of these adverse health conditions? (Hint: It isn’t bad luck). It’s a pattern of products that reached consumers before the risks were fully disclosed — in some cases, long after the company had reason to know those risks existed.

Who Can File a Johnson and Johnson Talc Lawsuit​?

Not every person who used J&J baby powder will have a viable case. But for the people who do, the stakes can be enormous.

You may qualify to file a J&J talcum powder lawsuit if you or a loved one:

• Used Johnson & Johnson talcum powder or baby powder
• Were later diagnosed with ovarian cancer, or another type of cancer

If a loved one has passed away from a Johnson & Johnson talcum powder cancer, you may be able to file a J&J asbestos claim after their death.

How Long Do You Have to File a J&J Talc Lawsuit​?

The statute of limitations for Johnson & Johnson talcum powder lawsuits varies by state — but it is not unlimited, and it is not forgiving.

In most states, you have 2-3 years from the date of your diagnosis — or from the date you discovered or reasonably should have discovered the connection between your illness and talc use — to file a lawsuit. Some states are more generous; a few are less so.

This matters because many ovarian cancer and mesothelioma patients don’t immediately connect their diagnosis to their talc use. Miss the deadline, and even the strongest case may be time-barred. No exceptions.

Tell us your story, and we can help you understand whether you may be able to seek compensation from a J&J talcum powder lawsuit.

Johnson and Johnson Lawsuit Update​s 2026: Pressure Is Still Building

J&J has spent years trying to make its legal problems disappear — through settlements, appeals, bankruptcy maneuvering, and the sheer financial weight of outlasting individual plaintiffs. The strategy has had mixed results. What it hasn’t done is make the lawsuits stop.

Across multiple product lines, litigation is active. New claims are being filed. Cases are moving toward trial. State attorneys general continue to monitor compliance with existing settlements.

And the internal documents that have emerged in discovery are now part of the permanent public record. All the memos, the suppressed studies, the calculated decisions not to warn.

Talc Litigation

As of 2026, J&J’s talc litigation remains one of the most closely watched mass torts in the country. After three failed bankruptcy attempts, J&J has been forced back into the traditional litigation system, facing individual and consolidated trials in state and federal courts.

New talc claims continue to be filed as victims seek compensation and justice. As of this date, approximately 90,000 J&J talc claims are pending in federal and state courts around the country. Courts have already paid over paid billions of dollars to those harmed. Expect more of the same.

Opioid Monitoring and Compliance

J&J’s opioid settlement includes compliance and monitoring requirements spanning the 9-year payment period. State attorneys general have continued to scrutinize pharmaceutical company practices related to opioid marketing, and J&J’s settlement does not immunize the company from related state actions.

Continued Janssen Litigation

Janssen-related litigation continues across multiple product lines. Individual Risperdal cases remain active in state courts. New lawsuits have been filed in connection with other Janssen pharmaceutical products, and the company’s overall legal exposure from its pharmaceutical division remains significant.

Get Help from a J&J Lawsuit Lawyer

For the people at the center of these lawsuits, this is not an abstract legal story. It’s ovarian cancer diagnosed at 48. It’s mesothelioma with a 6-month prognosis. It’s a son who grew up with gynecomastia because a doctor was handed misleading information. It’s a hip that failed and a body that hasn’t been the same since.

Johnson & Johnson has lawyers. Lots of them. And it has money to outlast almost any individual plaintiff in a prolonged legal fight. That’s exactly why having the right legal representation matters.

An experienced J&J lawsuit attorney can:

• Evaluate your case for free and tell you whether you likely qualify
• Connect your diagnosis to your product use through medical records and expert testimony
• File your claim in the right jurisdiction before the deadline
• Handle every aspect of the legal process while you focus on your health
• Negotiate a settlement that reflects the full scope of your damages — or take your case to trial

If you or someone you love developed ovarian cancer, mesothelioma, or another injury linked to a Johnson & Johnson product, you deserve to know your options. Start by sharing your story.

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