By Diana Novak Jones

July 29 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson must pay more than $42 million to a Massachusetts man who alleges that he developed mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, after using the company’s talc products for decades, a jury found on Tuesday.

Paul Lovell and his wife Kathryn sued the company in 2021, claiming Johnson & Johnson’s products contained asbestos and Paul was sickened after he inhaled the fibers. They claimed J&J knew the product contained asbestos and would be inhaled when it was used, but did nothing to warn consumers about the risks.

The jury awarded the Lovells $42,608,300 for pain and suffering, medical expenses and other damages. Reuters watched the proceeding through Courtroom View Network.

In a statement, attorneys for the Lovells said they hope J&J will acknowledge its liability and not make the family go through years of appeals to confirm that the company's baby powder caused Paul Lovell's disease.

Erik Haas, J&J's global vice president of litigation, said the verdict was based on "junk science" and the company plans to immediately appeal.

The company says that its products are safe, do not contain asbestos and do not cause cancer. J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product.

In the past year, the company has been hit with several substantial verdicts in mesothelioma cases. In April of last year, an Illinois jury awarded a woman with mesothelioma $45 million. Several months later, an Oregon jury awarded another woman $260 million. In October, the company was hit with a $15 million verdict in another mesothelioma case, and earlier this year, a jury awarded a Massachusetts woman $8 million.

However, the company has had success on appeal. In September, an Oregon state judge granted J&J's motion to throw out the $260 million verdict in a mesothelioma case and hold a new trial.

Cases alleging Johnson & Johnson’s talc products caused mesothelioma are part of sprawling litigation in federal and state court claiming the products cause that and other cancers, including ovarian cancer.

Johnson & Johnson is facing lawsuits from more than 63,000 plaintiffs who say they were diagnosed with cancer after using baby powder and other talc products, according to court filings.

That number is as high as 100,000 when counting claimants who haven't sued, Haas has said.

The number of lawsuits alleging talc caused mesothelioma is a small subset of these cases. The vast majority allege ovarian cancer.

Johnson & Johnson has sought to resolve claims through bankruptcy, a proposal that faced stiff opposition from some plaintiffs’ attorneys and has been rejected three times by federal courts.

In March, a U.S. bankruptcy judge rejected the latest proposal, which would have seen the company paying $10 billion to end thousands of lawsuits over claims its talc products caused gynecologic cancers.

Lawsuits alleging talc caused mesothelioma were not part of the last bankruptcy proposal. The company has previously settled some of those claims but has not struck a nationwide settlement.

The case is Paul and Kathryn Lovell v. Johnson & Johnson, case number 21-2086 in the Massachusetts Superior Court for Middlesex County.

For the Lovells: Danny Kraft Jr and Aaron Chapman of Dean Omar Branham Shirley, and Leslie-Anne Taylor and Andrea Marino Landry of Thornton Law Firm

For J&J: Daniel McCarthy and Alicia Chouinard of Manning Gross + Massenburg

(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones)