Published On December 29, 2025

Mesothelioma Victim Awarded Record $1.5 Billion Against J&J for Talc Exposure

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Mesothelioma Attorney Paul Danziger

A Baltimore jury has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay a mother and nonprofit founder a $1.5 billion award after deciding the company’s negligence led to her peritoneal mesothelioma. Cherie Croft was diagnosed with the rare and fatal form of cancer in January 2024, and the jury’s verdict, which includes $59.84 million in compensatory damages and punitive damages of $1 billion, represents the largest-ever sum awarded against Johnson & Johnson for a single plaintiff.

Mesothelioma Victim is Community Leader and Mother

Like many of the mesothelioma and ovarian cancer victims who have blamed Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based products for their illnesses, Mrs. Craft testified that her diagnosis came after a lifetime of using cosmetic talc products. The jury heard that she’d used Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder and other products, all over her body, from 1971 to 2024, and that the 37-year-old is a dedicated mother who serves as founder, CEO, and executive director of Smart from the Start, a nonprofit organization that supports children and families through trauma-informed community programs.

Over the course of the trial, the jury heard that the victim’s cancer was preventable, that Johnson & Johnson had been aware of the dangers posed by asbestos contamination of its product, and that Mrs. Craft’s illness had resulted from using Johnson’s Baby Powder every day of her life until her diagnosis. It took just one day for the jury to find Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Pecos River Talc liable for failing to warn Craft that baby powder contained asbestos. They assessed $1 billion against Johnson & Johnson and $500 million against the subsidiary.

Tens of Thousands of Mesothelioma and Ovarian Cancer Claims are Pending

Mesothelioma and ovarian cancer claims against Johnson & Johnson have been in the news for the last several years, as more than 67,000 plaintiffs nationwide say they were diagnosed with cancer after using the company’s baby powder and other talc-based products. The victims point to the company’s decades of consumer marketing, urging women to use the product for feminine hygiene and to families with young children, promising product purity.

The company previously sought to resolve the massive litigation through proposed settlements that would allocate billions of dollars to claimants, but those efforts have been rejected by courts that rejected its use of a controversial bankruptcy strategy known as a Texas Two-Step. Though ovarian cancer claims were paused pending bankruptcy court decisions, the company now faces thousands of individual trials across the country.

Multi-Million Dollar Mesothelioma and Ovarian Cancer Awards Continue

Juries have consistently handed down verdicts holding Johnson & Johnson responsible for victims’ mesothelioma and ovarian cancer diagnoses and ordering them to pay significant damages awards. Mrs. Craft’s $1.5 billion award case comes days after a Minnesota jury awarded a pleural mesothelioma victim $65 million, and that decision followed an early December decision that awarded $40 million to two women who claimed the company’s baby powder caused their ovarian cancer. Though the company pledges to appeal these verdicts and has been successful in reducing or overturning many of them, it has also set aside billions of dollars for litigation costs and settlements.

Amid mounting litigation and public health concerns, Johnson & Johnson stopped selling all of its talc-based powder products in the United States in 2020 and then discontinued global sales in 2023, switching to cornstarch-based alternatives for its baby powder products while continuing to maintain that its talc products have always been safe.