Avon
December 16, 2022
Avon Products disclosed that a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded 36 million dollars in compensatory damages against the company on December 14, 2022 and 10.3 million dollars in punitive damages on December 16 in Chapman v. Avon Products, Inc., Case No. 22STCV05968. Avon was one of more than 30 co-defendants in the personal injury suit filed in February 2022.
Plaintiffs Rita-Ann Chapman and her husband alleged that, although Avon never used asbestos in its product formulas, talc-containing powders it sold in the past were contaminated with asbestos during mining, and that her use of the products over several decades beginning in the 1950s contributed to her mesothelioma. Avon stopped selling all products in the United States in 2016.
Avon said it believes it has strong grounds to overturn the verdict and will immediately pursue post-trial motions and, if necessary, appeals, arguing among other things that the court improperly excluded all company fact witnesses and wrongly denied its mistrial motions. Avon disclosed the verdict in a regulatory filing on December 19, and parent Natura &Co issued a related notice the same day.