Miss. High Court Won't Ax AG's J&J Talc False Ad Suit

The Supreme Court of Mississippi declined to dismiss a suit against Johnson & Johnson, which alleged the company did not warn consumers its talc products may cause ovarian cancer. The state’s attorney general accused Johnson & Johnson of breaking the state’s consumer protection law through false advertising and insufficient labeling. The attorney general accused Johnson & Johnson of misrepresenting the benefits and risks of the talc products sold in Mississippi.

The justices ruled in an en banc decision, which denied Johnson & Johnson’s claim that the either the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act or the Federal Trade Commission Act bars the claims. The company argued that since the FTCA “guides” the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act, the state’s act would exempt product labels, given the FTCA does not include product labels in its false advertising provision.

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