Now we're returning to Johnson and Johnson, which is defending itself in more than five thousand suits across the US, which blame its iconic baby powder products for causing women to develop or varian cancer. And Bloomberg News has exclusively learned about some unsealed memos and other documents in the case joining US as Bloomberg News legal reporter Jeff Feely, Jeff,
tell us what you have discovered? Uh, in connection with some of the existing cases in state court in St. Louis, there were documents on sealed earlier this month that showed that Johnson and Johnson News, stretching back to the nineteen seventies, that there were trace amounts of asbestos in the talc used and it's baby powder and other talcoum powder products. The company has consistently maintained and maintained this day that there's no asbestos in its baby powder or talk products
and never has been and never will be. Um this could be a problem for j and Jay going forward. This opens up a whole new avenue of cases tied to the to the tow claims. Well, so, Jeff, what what exactly is it? We're going to see happen in court. Now with these documents coming out, Well, the Piloffs lawyers are going to take these documents and they're gonna have to get the judge to sign off on using them as evidence, but they're gonna show they're going to use
them as evidence to basically impeach Johnson and Johnson. When they come up and say our baby powder is safe and asbestos free, they're gonna pull out these documents. They're gonna say, you know, well, didn't you guys know back in the nineties seventies that they were your people, internal documents, Your own people were talking about trace amounts of asbestos in the talcoum powder, used um in your baby powder.
And I might point out that some of that Talcoulm powder comes from minds that J and J you owned, not just got, you know, used as vendors. They own the minds where the um testing on the talk was turning up traces of asbestos. They're going to use that in hopes of, you know, and hopes of convincing the jury that this, you know, the tapam powder is and unreasonably dangerous product, and that J and j knew so and continued to sell it Jeff about thirty seconds left.
How has J and J been doing in the in the trial? So far they have lost five out of six trials and the damage amounts are increasing. The last one in California generated a four and seventeen million dollar birthdate against Johnson and Johnson. Well, thanks for joining us on Bloomberg Law with this exclusive report about the J and J case. That's Jeff Feely. He is a Bloomberg News legal reporter.