Page Updated December 22, 2025

Jury Awards $65.5 Million to Minnesota Mother with Mesothelioma

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Mesothelioma Attorney Paul Danziger

Anna Jean Houghton Carley, a 37-year-old Minnesota mother of three, used Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder throughout her childhood, and she points to asbestos contamination of the talc in the product as the cause of her malignant pleural mesothelioma. After her diagnosis, she filed a personal injury claim against the company, and last week, a Minnesota jury ordered the company to pay her $65.5 million in damages.

$65.5 Million Mesothelioma Award May Be the Largest in Minnesota History

The $65.5 million mesothelioma award ordered in the Ramsey County District Court is believed to be the largest asbestos-related verdict in Minnesota history. Over nearly two weeks, the members of the jury heard details of Mrs. Carley’s pleural mesothelioma diagnosis and how exposure to the carcinogen asbestos causes the aggressive, fatal cancer, as well as evidence that the pharmaceutical giant sold and marketed talc-based products despite knowing that talc could be contaminated with the toxic mineral.

Representatives for Mrs. Carley told the jurors that Mrs. Carley’s parents had never been warned about the risk of mesothelioma or other asbestos-related disease, and that they relied on the company’s assertions of purity while using the product on her throughout her childhood. Mrs. Carley filed her lawsuit in March 2025, and the $65.5 million compensatory award is meant to compensate her for her past and future losses resulting from the cancer diagnosis. Attorneys representing the family insisted that the lawsuit was about more than financial compensation. They blamed Johnson & Johnson’s desire for revenue and company profits for the decision not to warn the public, and asserted that the case was about truth and accountability, emphasizing how much her husband and children will suffer after her death.

Minnesota Mesothelioma Echoes Recent Asbestos Awards from Juries

Asbestos litigation has been filed by both mesothelioma and ovarian cancer victims, with the most significant commonality between the cases being that victims accuse Johnson & Johnson of negligence and failure to warn of the dangers of talc. Legal action has implicated asbestos-contaminated talc in both Johnson’s Baby Powder and its Shower-to-Shower body powder, and in recent months, juries have responded to individual claims by assigning massive verdicts.

In what is considered a bellwether case, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury recently awarded $40 million to two women who claimed Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder caused their ovarian cancer. In October, a California jury ordered the company to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died of mesothelioma. The latter is thought to be one of the largest individual verdicts in asbestos litigation history.

Cancer Concerns Led to Product Removal

After decades of marketing the product to families for use on babies and children, mesothelioma and ovarian cancer concerns led Johnson & Johnson to remove its iconic talc-based powder products from U.S. shelves in 2020, and worldwide in 2023. Though the company has pledged to appeal each of the verdicts, the pattern of substantial jury awards in multiple jurisdictions suggests growing acceptance of claims linking talc products to asbestos-related cancers.