A $117 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson and a supplier in favor of a man who said his asbestos-related cancer was caused by long-term use of J&J’s Baby Powder could open a new front for thousands of cases claiming the widely-used product caused [mesothelioma or ovarian cancer], legal experts and plaintiffs lawyers said.
J&J has been battling some 6,000 cases claiming [J&J’s Baby Powder] and Shower to Shower products cause ovarian cancer. The $117 million verdict by a New Jersey jury last week, however, involved [mesothelioma.] a different form of cancer that is clearly linked to asbestos.
Plaintiffs lawyers claim that internal J&J documents seen in that trial show that [J&J’s Baby Powder] had been contaminated with asbestos. They now plan to use the documents in upcoming ovarian cancer trials to allege that the asbestos contamination also caused that form of cancer.
J&J and Imerys Talc America, a unit of Imerys SA, have vowed to appeal the New Jersey verdict and deny asbestos has ever been present in their products or that their talc can cause any form of cancer.
The case of Stephen Lanzo, a New Jersey resident who claimed he developed mesothelioma after using [J&J’s Baby Powder] since his birth in 1972, was the first time a jury saw the internal J&J documents which plaintiffs claim show that J&J knew since the 1970s that the talc in [J&J’s Baby Powder] was contaminated by asbestos during the mining process.
J&J says the documents present no such evidence, but merely show the company’s caution.
[Article continues at original source]Mesothelioma, Asbestos, and Legal Compensation: Basic Facts
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