On Friday, a Kentucky jury after less than an hour of deliberations cleared Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Colgate-Palmolive over claims that their talcum powder caused the now deceased plaintiff's mesothelioma.
According to the plaintiff's lawyer Joseph Satterley, the plaintiff, born in 1944, started using Colgate-Palmolive’s Cashmere Bouquet Powder in 1962 and was diagnosed with mesothelioma in April 2016. She had a career as a travel agent in the 1970s. Satterley, also stated that the powders were full of asbestos and according to the documents, an FDA analysis told Colgate in 1976 that their powder was “loaded” with tremolite fibers.
This was J&J's sixth win in recent months. In a similar trial conducted in June, both the companies paid $12 million to plaintiff a plaintiff. The jury found J&J 30% responsible and Colgate 40% responsible for the plaintiff’s cancer.
Talc defendants currently face nearly 14,000 Talcum Powder and Shower-to-Shower lawsuits, consolidated under multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2738; In Re: Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation), in the District of New Jersey. The MDL is presided by Hon. Freda L. Wolfson, U.S.D.J., and Hon. Lois H. Goodman, U.S.M.J.
