$63.4 Million Verdict for Mesothelioma Patient Against Johnson & Johnson Over Asbestos in Talc Products
After trial: After post-trial review, Judge Toal found the verdict excessive and cut it, according to the Post and Courier. The amounts the defendants owe are now $14.4 million in compensatory damages, $25 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and $760,000 in punitive damages against American International Industries, about $40.2 million.
Won by Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP.
A Richland County jury awarded Michael Perry, a 53-year-old man diagnosed with mesothelioma, $63.4 million on August 15, 2024. The award was $32.6 million in compensatory damages plus $30 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and $760,000 against American International Industries. Perry alleged asbestos in Johnson's Baby Powder and other talc products caused his cancer. Johnson & Johnson said it would appeal.
What happened
On August 15, 2024, a Richland County jury in Columbia, South Carolina, returned a verdict of $63.4 million for Michael Perry, a man with mesothelioma, against Johnson & Johnson and American International Industries. Perry's case was tried before Judge Jean Toal in the state's consolidated asbestos docket.
Perry was 53 when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs, in July 2023. He lived on Johns Island, South Carolina, and by trial he was struggling with shortness of breath, weakness and fatigue. His lawsuit alleged that nearly 50 years of using Johnson's Baby Powder, beginning when he was an infant, exposed him to asbestos in the talc. American International Industries was named as another defendant over talc products. Doctors had estimated that Perry might live six to eighteen months after the diagnosis, and the jury heard him describe how the illness had changed his daily life.
Trey Branham of Dean Omar Branham Shirley, working with a Columbia firm, tried the case for Perry and his wife. Johnson & Johnson denied that its talc contained asbestos and pointed to another source of exposure: Perry had worked with asbestos-containing brake pads in his father's garage. Perry testified for about 90 minutes, describing what it was like to hear the details of his prognosis laid out in court.
The trial ran from August 5 to August 15, 2024. Johnson & Johnson declined to put on a defense case and went straight to closing arguments, and the company said afterward that the court had made erroneous rulings that kept it from presenting its defense. Branham told reporters that the company never made a meaningful settlement offer.
The jury awarded $32.6 million in compensatory damages. It then added punitive damages of $30 million against Johnson & Johnson and $760,000 against American International Industries, for a total of $63.4 million. Perry's wife, Lonnie Long, was a co-plaintiff in the suit.
Johnson & Johnson said it would appeal immediately. It asked Judge Toal to set the verdict aside or order a new trial, and Branham said no money would be paid until the appeals were finished, a process expected to take years. Judge Toal later reviewed the verdict and cut it, finding it excessive though not driven by passion, caprice or prejudice, the Post and Courier reported. The amounts now owed by the defendants are $14.4 million in compensatory damages, $25 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and $760,000 against American International Industries, about $40.2 million in all. Johnson & Johnson says it is confident the verdict will be reversed on appeal, and we found no appellate decision.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Courtroom View Network, 'South Carolina Jury Returns $63.4M Verdict In Latest Johnson & Johnson Talc Trial', Aug. 2024·Archived copy
- 2.The Post and Courier, 'SC man who said Johnson & Johnson baby powder gave him cancer awarded $63M by jury', Aug. 2024·Archived copy
- 3.The Post and Courier, 'SC man who won Johnson & Johnson lawsuit may not see money', Sept. 2024·Archived copy
- 4.The Post and Courier: SC couple expects to receive $12M less after judge's review in baby powder cancer lawsuit (2025)
More proven verdicts from Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP
All Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP proven verdicts →On October 6, 2025, a Los Angeles County jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $966 million to the family of Mae K. Moore, a mother of three who died of mesothelioma in December 2021 at age 88 after decades of using the company's talc-based Baby Powder and Shower to Shower. The award comprised $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages, reported at the time as the largest talc-mesothelioma verdict ever returned against Johnson & Johnson. On March 13, 2026, the trial judge, Ruth Ann Kwan, vacated the entire $950 million punitive award, finding the malice showing insufficient, while leaving the $16 million compensatory judgment intact. Both sides have said they will appeal. Dean Omar Branham Shirley tried the case for the Moore family, and this page documents it as part of the public record.
In July 2023, after a two-phase trial before Judge Cary Nishimoto in Los Angeles County Superior Court, a jury awarded roughly $107 million, $32 million compensatory and $75 million punitive, to the family of Joel Hernandezcueva, a janitor who died of pleural mesothelioma in 2014 in his mid-40s after asbestos exposure at the Park Place complex in Irvine. The jury found raw-asbestos supplier Union Carbide acted with malice and assigned it the largest share of fault. On December 12, 2023, Judge Nishimoto set the verdict aside in its entirety, granting judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a new trial on findings of juror misconduct, misconduct by plaintiffs' counsel, insufficient evidence, and excessive damages. Plaintiffs' counsel said they would appeal, and no published decision reinstating the verdict appears in the public record as of this writing. Dean Omar Branham Shirley tried the 2023 case, and this page documents it as part of the public record.
A Portland jury awarded $34.2 million to Richard Long, a former Swan Island shipyard laborer diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, after hearing that John Crane Inc. knew its asbestos gaskets and packing were dangerous decades before it warned anyone who worked with them.
Evan Plotkin of Somers, Connecticut, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2021 and sued Johnson & Johnson, alleging decades of exposure to asbestos in its Baby Powder. A Bridgeport jury awarded $15 million in compensatory damages on October 15, 2024, and found the company's conduct warranted punitive damages. On October 1, 2025, the trial judge added $10 million in punitive damages, for a total of $25 million. Johnson & Johnson has appealed.
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