CALIFORNIA — Sixty-eight year old Plaintiff Joanne Anderson sued Johnson & Johnson (J & J) and other defendants in state court in Los Angeles in 2017, alleging that her mesothelioma was caused in part by use of talcum powder that was contaminated with asbestos. On Wednesday, May 23, 2018, a California jury returned a $21.7 million compensatory verdict for the plaintiff, assigning 67 percent to J & J. The jury is still deliberating on whether to award punitive damages. Today, the jury awarded $4 million dollars in punitive damages because they found that the company acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud.”