In a staggering legal defeat, Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay a California woman $70 million in a baby powder ovarian cancer lawsuit.

This case marks the third consecutive trial Johnson & Johnson has loss over the alleged link between baby powder use and ovarian cancer.

After deliberating for just three hours, jurors returned their verdict against Johnson & Johnson, ordering the company to pay $65 million in punitive damages and 90 percent of about $2.5 million for medical costs and pain and suffering to plaintiff Deborah Giannecchini.

Co-defendant Imerys Talc America Inc., the supplier of the talc, was ordered to pay $2.5 million in punitive damages.

Additionally, the St. Louis jury found Johnson & Johnson and Imerys guilty of negligence and failure to warn of the risks of genital use of talc-based baby powders.

It also found Johnson & Johnson guilty of concealment and Imerys liable for conspiracy.

Giannecchini, 63, brought forth the complaint against Johnson & Johnson, alleging that genital use of the company’s signature talc products, specifically Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower, led to her diagnosis of Stage 4 ovarian cancer.

According to the lawsuit, Giannecchini used Johnson’s baby powder for feminine hygiene for more than four decades until her diagnosis with ovarian cancer three years ago.

She has an 80 percent chance of dying in the next two years, and has undergone surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, Giannecchini’s attorney said.

“She has literally had her spleen removed, part of her stomach removed, part of her colon removed, all of her ovaries, uterus. She has literally had basically the lower half of her body removed,” counsel for Giannecchini shared during opening arguments. “She said if there would have been a warning on the bottle to not use this on the genital area, she would not have done it and we might not be here.”

Giannecchini seemed overcome with emotions by the verdict. “I’ve waited for a long time for this,” she stated. “I’ve wanted this so badly.”

Sadly, Giannecchini’s case echoes thousands of other baby powder ovarian cancer claims against Johnson & Johnson.

In fact, nearly 1,700 lawsuits have been filed in federal court alleging Johnson & Johnson ignored studies linking its baby powder and Shower-to-Shower talc products to ovarian cancer and failed to warn consumers about the risk.

The alleged link between baby powder and ovarian cancer goes back decades. In 1982, the journal Cancer published the first study showing a statistical link between genital talc use and the disease.

Since then, nearly two dozen more epidemiological studies have found increased rates of ovarian cancer for women who reported using talc powder products for feminine hygiene.

Still, other studies have found no link between talc and ovarian cancer. Johnson & Johnson point to a lack of proof of a biological mechanism by which talc could cause ovarian cancer.

This year, an estimated 22,280 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society, and about 14,240 will die. Ovarian cancer affects about one woman in 70.

Studies showing a higher rate of ovarian cancer with genital talc use have typically put the increased risk at about 30 to 35 percent—which would raise the odds of getting the disease to roughly one in 50.

Thursday’s verdict follows two other recent baby powder cancer verdicts for $72 million and $55 million against the company this year. Johnson & Johnson denies any link to talc use and ovarian cancer and is appealing both of these cases.

Giannecchini is represented by R. Allen Smith Jr. of The Smith Law Firm and Ted Meadows of Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis & Miles PC.

The Baby Powder Ovarian Cancer Lawsuit is Giannecchini v. Johnson & Johnson, et al., Case No. 1422-CC09012-01, in the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Missouri.