Avon was found guilty and will have to pay US$46.3 million

Natura notified on Monday the 19th that Avon Products, its subsidiary, was ordered to pay $36 million in damages to customer Rita Chapman by the Justice of California. The company will also have to pay $10.3 million in punitive damages. This is a lawsuit that accused the brand of selling products contaminated with asbestos, which contributed to the development of mesothelioma, a cancer of the membrane that covers the inside of the chest wall and abdomen, in Chapman.

The jury found that Avon products containing talc contaminated with asbestos contributed to Chapman’s mesothelioma. $36 million is earmarked for her medical costs.

What Avon says:

According to Natura’s statement, Rita Ann Chapman and her husband, Gary Chapman, claimed that although Avon never used asbestos in their product formulations, some powder products may have been contaminated with asbestos during the process of forming and mining the talc that was present. present in these merchandise. Thus, the use of these products would have contributed to Rita Ann’s development of cancer.

Avon, in a memo, also said it stopped selling all products in the United States in 2016. The judgment was carried out in two phases, and Avon was listed as a defendant in February 2022. The personal injury lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles, California.

API (Avon Products, Inc) products undergo a rigorous safety evaluation for consumer use. API believes it has strong grounds to attempt to overturn judgment in this case and will promptly pursue all available remedies in its defense and, if necessary, file an appeal. Among other potential grounds for appeal, API believes the court improperly excluded all of its factual witnesses at trial and erred in denying motions to set aside the trial,” Natura says, in a document signed by the company’s chief financial officer, Guilherme Castellan.