BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A jury in Bridgeport recently awarded $15 million to Evan Plotkin and his wife Martha Barry-Plotkin in a verdict against Johnson & Johnson and several subsidiaries for health damage connected to asbestos in the pharmaceutical company’s talc-based Baby Powder.
Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP, a nationally-recognized trial firm that takes on cases around the United States for people who have had their health harmed by irresponsible conduct, announced the jury’s decision on Tuesday evening.
The trial firm said it secured the verdict on behalf of Plotkin, a Connecticut philanthropist and father, who reportedly contracted mesothelioma from asbestos in Johnson & Johnson’s products.
“This trial demonstrated once again that J&J knew its products would cause harm, but they chose to do the wrong thing time and time again,” said Ben Braly, Plotkin’s attorney from Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP. “We are devastated for the Plotkin family. No amount can ever make up for what Johnson & Johnson did to Evan.”
According to the trial firm, Plotkin is an artist and father of three. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2021, which is a cancer that lines the lungs and is connected to asbestos exposure. Plotkin was reportedly exposed to the product through personal use that began in the 1950s and continued through his children’s use in the 2000s.
Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP said Johnson & Johnson removed its talc powder from North American sales in 2020.
“Johnson & Johnson has already issued a statement blaming the judge and the jury and reiterating its debunked theory that the product they sold to mothers, fathers and babies is safe,” said Trey Branham, managing partner with Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP.
Branham said that four different juries in four different states in front of four different judges have now landed on the same exact findings.
“At some point Johnson & Johnson and its decision makers are going to have to understand that it cannot be that they alone are right and everyone else is wrong,” Branham said.
The trial firm said that the jury awarded $15 million in compensatory damages and answered “in the affirmative” that punitive damages were justified; this means the ultimate verdict amount could go higher.
Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries Kenvue, Holdco, Pecos River, LLT and LTL were also defendants in the lawsuit.
According to Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP, Plotkin has been recognized for his work in downtown Springfield, Mass., where he founded City Mosaic, a nonprofit that fosters and expands the area’s visual arts community. The Springfield Regional Chamber named Plotkin its Citizen of the Year in 2022.
FOX61 sent Johnson & Johnson a request for comment on Wednesday but did not hear back by the time of this deadline. Any comment from the company will be added to this article upon being received.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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