J&J's Latest Talc Lawsuit Trial Underway in California

J&J's Latest Talc Lawsuit Trial Underway in California

Introduction

On January 7, 2019, a California jury heard opening statements in the latest talcum powder trial over allegations against Johnson & Johnson that their baby powder was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos fibers. An attorney representing a dying woman told the jury that J&J knew for decades about asbestos exposure risks but failed to warn the general public or take necessary actions.

The lawsuit filed by a plaintiff in Alameda Superior Court in Oakland is the first case to go for trial this year among a dozen talc cases filed against J&J. The plaintiff claimed in her lawsuit that she was exposed to the company's cosmetic talc that originated from South Korea during the first two years of her life in the Philippines. She moved to the United States in 1968 and was diagnosed with mesothelioma only in 2017. Her attorney,  Joseph Satterley told, testing done on Asian talc samples from the 1960s and 1970s by his own experts would show Korean-mined talc contained asbestos in them. In the court filings, J&J said fibers found in Korean talc or any of its talc cannot be classified as asbestos and asserted they were harmless non-asbestos fibers.

According to a Bloomberg report, J&J would face nearly three times as many talcum trials this year including a case with 38 plaintiffs scheduled for an August trial in Missouri’s St. Louis Circuit Court. In a one of its kind settlement agreement, J&J recently declared to pay more than $1.5 million to settle a Manhattan woman’s lawsuit in which she blamed exposure to asbestos fibers from J&J's talcum powder for her mesothelioma. J&J faces more than 11,000 talcum powder lawsuits across the U.S. filed on behalf of individuals who claimed they were diagnosed with mesothelioma and ovarian cancer due to asbestos exposure from the company's talc-based products. So far, J&J has won three cases and another five have ended in mistrials, and the company has appealed all of the plaintiff victory verdicts.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) failed to escape the talcum powder lawsuit filed by the state attorney in the Chancery Court of Mississippi. Chancellor Dewayne Thomas denied the motion appealed by the company. The lawsuit alleged that the company failed to warn the residents about the risks of its talc-based products, which can cause ovarian cancer due to asbestos exposure in the talc.

On December 19, 2018, J&J failed to overturn another attempt as Judge Rex Burlison in St. Louis rejected the company’s bid to set aside a $4.7 billion July verdict which was awarded to 22 women who blamed asbestos exposure from the company's Baby Powder and other talc products for their ovarian cancer.

Regulators in India are testing J&J's Baby Powder after a stunning report suggested that the company was aware for years that some of its talc products had the presence of asbestos in them. The talcum giant confirmed that officials from India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and some state-based Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) visited its manufacturing plants in India. As per Reuters, J&J has tested asbestos presence since the 1970s, and several tests conducted revealed traces of asbestos in the Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower powder. Reuters suggested Internal memos and documents indicated the test reports made officials at Johnson & Johnson worried, but still, they failed to warn consumers or regulators about asbestos traces in their talc-products.