BOSTON, July 29, 2025 – A Suffolk County jury has awarded $42.6 million to Paul and Kathryn Lovell, finding that Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based baby powder caused Paul’s mesothelioma.
The two-week trial held in Suffolk Superior Court revealed decades of corporate misconduct, including internal documents that showed Johnson & Johnson knew its talc products were contaminated with asbestos, failed to adopt safer alternatives, and engaged in systematic manipulation of scientific testing methods.
The jury awarded $42,608,300.00 in damages for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and other losses, finding negligence and breach of warranty on the part of the company.
The Lovells, longtime residents of Melrose, Massachusetts, have been married for 44 years and are the parents of four children. Paul, 69, used Johnson’s Baby Powder for decades, not only on himself, but on his children, believing it to be completely safe for personal and family use.
Thornton Law Firm’s Leslie-Anne Taylor (ltaylor@tenlaw.com) and Andrea Marino Landry (alandry@tenlaw.com) represented the Lovells alongside Dean Omar Branham Shirley LLP. The team presented the internal evidence that persuaded jurors that J&J deliberately misled the public and regulators for decades. The jury found that the company defectively designed its baby powder product by using asbestos-contaminated talcum powder and failed to warn consumers of the hazards of using their asbestos-contaminated products.
Leslie-Anne Taylor was responsible for organizing all plaintiff exhibits and getting them into evidence. Every document that she presented to the court went into evidence. She worked day and night as part of the trial team for the last several weeks.
“It has been an absolute honor to represent the Lovell family, who showed incredible courage throughout this trial,” said Leslie-Anne Taylor of Thornton Law Firm. “Paul and Kathy are a wonderful, loving family, and we are deeply grateful they entrusted us with their case. I am also immensely proud of the outstanding trial team—including co-counsel Aaron Chapman and Danny Kraft from Dean Omar Branham Shirley, Amy Carter from Carter Law Group, and our trial techs Ryan Travis and Jermell Valkema from The Trial Group—whose dedication and skill made this verdict possible.”
Johnson & Johnson, which stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, maintains its products are safe and asbestos-free, and it plans to appeal the verdict, referring to the evidence against it as “junk science.”
This case adds to a series of multi-million-dollar verdicts against J&J in mesothelioma lawsuits nationwide, as the company faces over 63,000 talc-related cancer claims. Its latest $10 billion bankruptcy proposal to resolve talc claims was rejected earlier this year, and mesothelioma suits were not included in that plan.
The case is Paul and Kathryn Lovell v. Johnson & Johnson, Civil Action No. 21-2086, in Middlesex County Superior Court, Massachusetts.
Thornton Law Firm has been fighting for asbestos victims since 1978, including lawsuits like this one against the manufacturers of talc powder. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or any asbestos-related disease, count on New England’s leading mesothelioma law firm to get you the full compensation you are entitled to under the law. Call our toll-free number 888-632-0108 or tell us your story here. All legal claims have short time limits so call now to protect your legal rights.