A couple has filed a lawsuit within the Johnson & Johnson baby powder and ovarian cancer multidistrict litigation (MDL) currently underway in New Jersey federal court.

Plaintiff Nikki C., a resident of Oklahoma, is a 46-year-old woman who claims that she suffered personal injury and loss of services, and her husband plaintiff Mark C.brings forth allegations of loss of consortium, or spousal intimacy.

The plaintiffs have named Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., Imerys Talc America, Inc. (the talc supplier) and Personal Care Products Council (a trade association that represents the cosmetic and personal care products industry worldwide) as defendants in this case.

According to the baby powder and ovarian cancer lawsuit, Nikki had talcum powder used on her as a baby and used it herself up through 2015. On Feb. 26, 2016, Nikki was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Nikki and Mark have brought forth a number of counts against the Defendants including strict liability for failure to warn, defective manufacture and design, breaches of express and implied warranties, multiple counts of negligence, multiple counts of fraud, civil conspiracy, loss of consortium, punitive damages and more.

The couple is seeking a jury trial and seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, costs of suit, and any additional relief as deemed just and proper by the Court.

The Baby Powder and Ovarian Cancer Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cb-03670-FLW-LHG and is part of the Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder and Ovarian Cancer MDL, In re: Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2738, in the U.S. District Court for the district of New Jersey.

Baby Powder and Ovarian Cancer Allegations in the MDL

Due to the overwhelming number of lawsuits that have been filed against Johnson & Johnson, its talc supplier and the trade association representing cosmetic products and personal care products, these lawsuits were combined together and sent to a single federal court under a single judge for pretrial proceedings.

Based on the most recent information from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation dated May 15, 2017, there are currently 327 lawsuits currently pending in the MDL.

In the past couple of years, the juries and several trials have awarded large dollar amounts to the plaintiffs who filed baby powder and ovarian cancer lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson. Verdicts of $72 million, $70 million, $55 million and the largest at $110 million have been paid over allegations that the company failed to disclose the risk of cancer on its products.

The allegations in these lawsuits state that there have been more than 45 years of research pointing to an association between the use of talc, the main ingredient in Johnson’s baby powder, and ovarian cancer for women who used the product for personal hygiene purposes. Many women use talcum powder in their genital area as part of a daily personal hygiene routine in order to prevent odor and moisture.

Researchers have found that it is likely that the small talcum powder particles enter the woman’s body with genital powder application and travel up to the ovaries, where the mineral causes inflammation and changes in the cells that eventually lead to ovarian cancer.

The baby powder lawsuit states that the authors of one study visited with a doctor who worked with Johnson & Johnson, and the study author advised that “Johnson & Johnson should place a warning on its talcum powder products about the ovarian cancer risks so that women could make an informed decision about their health.” This allegedly happened in 1982, and at no time has Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder label ever indicated such a warning, the ovarian cancer lawsuit states.

The complaint goes on to say that the public, including the plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation “would not otherwise have purchased the products and/or applied the products in the perineal area if they had been informed of the risks associated with the use of the products in the perineal area.”

Nikki and the other women and families await the results of their lawsuits as more proceed further in the litigation process.