On Wednesday, February 13, Missouri Supreme Court granted Johnson & Johnson's request to move a talcum powder case out of St.Louis City Court into county court, ruling that the case cannot proceed to trial just because it was included with the claims of a St. Louis city resident.
The decision was given out for a case filed by a plaintiff whose wife died from ovarian cancer allegedly due to asbestos exposure from J&J's talcum powder. According to the Supreme Court's ruling, J&J was allowed to overturn St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Rex Burlison’s decision of the request to move the claims to the county court. In the 16-page opinion, Judge W. Brent Powell stated that the claims have been separated from St. Louis city resident's claims and belong to the venue where his wife probably used J&J's talcum powder, which is St. Louis County.
More than 1,000 lawsuits, pending against J&J, are centralized for pretrial proceedings in the District of New Jersey, presided over by Hon. Freda L. Wolfson, U.S.D.J./ Hon. Lois H. Goodman, U.S.M.J. as a part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2738; In Re: Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation).
