Court tosses $223.8 million verdict against J&J in talc cancer case

By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) - A New Jersey appeals court on Tuesday threw out a $223.8 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in a trial over four plaintiffs' claims that they developed cancer from being exposed to the company's talc powder products.

The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division found that a lower court judge should not have allowed some of the scientific expert testimony the plaintiffs presented to jurors in the case.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The jury in the case had ordered the company to pay $37.2 million in compensatory damages and $750 million in punitive damages, though the amount was automatically reduced to $186.5 million under state law.

J&J's win comes after the company in July failed for a second time to move tens of thousands of claims over talc into bankruptcy court, where it hoped to resolve them through a proposed $8.9 billion settlement.

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis, William Maclean)