Queency Jain –
The Supreme Court of United States has rejected to take up Johnsons & Johnsons appeal of verdict in favour of a woman who apparently blamed the company’s products that developed ovarian cancer in her body.
The company argued that they didn’t get a fair trial when a Jury in Missouri State Court awarded $5 million to 22 women who used the company’s product that contain talcum powder claiming the same to be contaminated by asbestos.
After the State Appeals Court reduced the award to $2.1 billion, the company approached the Supreme Court to get relief.
The Court, without giving any explanation, rejected to hear up the plea thereby asking to consider the company’s argument that the Missouri Court unfairly combined cases of 22 women without considering the severity of the disease.
The company contended that many of the women considered had genetic predispositions of cancer and must not have been taken into consideration collectively as the cases combined together confused the jury and blurred the legal distinctions separate to each claim.
The company said that the amount of punitive damages were too far out of line with the actual damages and requested the Court to take the case to curb due-process abuses in mass tort suits.
