J&J Settles Talc Lawsuits for $5.5B, Pending Claimant Approval

After more than a decade of legal struggle, Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $5.5 billion to resolve approximately 69,000 claims that its talc-based baby powder caused ovarian cancer — one of the longest and most contested product liability battles in modern corporate history. The company, which has consistently denied wrongdoing and points to a record of courtroom victories, frames the settlement not as an admission of fault but as a deliberate choice to seek closure and return its attention to medicine. Whether the agreement holds depends on the claimants themselves, whose collective voic