Sept 16 (Reuters) - An Oregon judge has overturned a

$260 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) in a

lawsuit brought by a woman who said she got mesothelioma, a

deadly cancer linked to asbestos exposure, from inhaling the

company's talc powder, the company said on Monday.

Judge Katharine von ter Stegge of the 4th Judicial District

Circuit Court in Portland, Oregon, granted J&J's motion to toss

the verdict and hold a new trial in the case at a hearing late

on Friday, according to a spokesperson for the company. Von ter

Stegge is expected to issue an opinion explaining her order in

the coming days.

Erik Haas, J&J's worldwide vice president of litigation,

said the original verdict was "the direct result of numerous

egregious errors committed by the plaintiff's lawyers" and had

"no basis in the law or science."

A lawyer for the Oregon woman, Kyung Lee, who sued the

company along with her husband, did not immediately comment.

J&J is facing more than 62,000 plaintiffs' claims that its

baby powder and other talc products were contaminated with

asbestos and caused cancer. Most of the lawsuits are over

ovarian and other gynecological cancers, with a small minority

over mesothelioma. J&J has said that its talc is safe, does not

contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.

Lee was diagnosed with mesothelioma last year at age 48. She

alleged that she inhaled asbestos-tainted talc over more than 30

years, beginning when her mother used it on her when she was a

baby and later when she used it herself as a deodorant.

A lawyer for J&J said at trial that Lee's illness was likely

caused by exposure to asbestos used at a factory near where she

grew up.

Friday's decision comes as J&J is preparing to have a

subsidiary file bankruptcy in order to settle the ovarian and

other gynecological cancer lawsuits for about $9 billion. The

company has said it has secured support for the deal from well

over 75% of claimants, the legal threshold for a judge to

approve the kind of bankruptcy settlement J&J has proposed.

The bankruptcy filing and settlement would not affect

mesothelioma cases like Lee's.