Johnson & Johnson has been hit with multiple lawsuits recently surrounding what they did and did not know about the contents of their famed “baby powder,” and its potential relationship with cervical and ovarian cancer. There are over 9,000 similar lawsuits going on right now. Big verdicts have come down saying Johnson & Johnson owes hundreds of millions in damages to the women they’ve in effect poisoned. Now, Johnson & Johnson faces the largest verdict against them yet. An enormous, $4.7 billion decision that was just handed down to 22 women.

Thursday's massive verdict was handed down in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis. It was comprised of $550 million in compensatory damages and $4.14 billion in punitive damages. [...] The women and their families said decades-long use of baby powder and other cosmetic talc products caused their diseases. They allege the company knew its talc was contaminated with asbestos since at least the 1970s but failed to warn consumers about the risks.

Johnson & Johnson released a statement saying they were “deeply disappointed” in the verdict, and vowed to appeal the verdict. You know what’s more “deeply” disappointing? Getting cervical or ovarian cancer using a product marketed to be gentle enough to use on infants. Johnson & Johnson has had a lot of success appealing verdicts over the past couple of years; appeals courts have used the Supreme Court’s limits on what personal liabilities big companies have. But at some point it’s hard not to believe that the Supreme Court will hear another one of these cases.