Ford's $40M Asbestos Case To Get A New Trial Or Remittitur

Ford's $40M Asbestos Case To Get A New Trial Or Remittitur

Introduction

Ford Motor Co.'s appeal, over the $40.6 million asbestos verdict, has been approved by the Supreme Court of Delaware, and the case is remanded back to a lower court for a new trial or remittitur.

The appeal filed claims that the plaintiff, along with her late husband, who died before the trial, failed to prove that Ford didn’t warn her husband about asbestos in the negligence case filed. The appeal also claimed that the Superior Court shouldn’t have denied its petition for a new trial, as the company believed the jury gave an "inconsistent verdict" and that the compensatory damages verdict is excessive.

The plaintiff's late husband owned Knecht Automotive in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where he had contracted mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos from the clutches and brakes. The lawsuit filed alleged 18 defendants responsible for not warning about the possible impact of asbestos, which led to his injuries and his wife's loss of consortium.

Justice James T. Vaughn considering the compensatory damages verdict excessive remanded the case to the Superior Court for further consideration.

On November 1, Special Master Joel Pisano, appointed by the U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson presiding over all federal talcum powder lawsuits, approved a supplemental order with regards to the testing procedures for Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) Baby Powder samples from the recalled lots.

The order indicates that J&J should notify plaintiffs that additional samples for independent testing will not be available, if the testing associated with recent recall uses up all the samples. It further states to preserve the samples and recalled bottles of baby powder returned by consumers and an appropriate protocol for dividing and selecting such samples should be raised with the court.

The last month's recall impacted 33,000 bottles after the FDA found evidence of asbestos in a sample tested. The lawsuits are consolidated under multidistrict litigation MDL No. 2738 ( In Re: Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation). Lawsuits are also pending in a coordinated California proceeding under Judicial Council Coordinated Proceeding No. 4877.

Johnson's Baby Powder, one of the most popular products containing talcum powder, is linked to increasing a woman's risk of ovarian cancer if she uses it regularly in the genital area. In a few cases, the cancer tissue was studied using an electron microscope and was found to have talc in it, which supported the claim that the cancer was caused by the body powder and increases the talc-related cancer risk.