Defective Products Legal News Articles & Interviews

Oakland, CA On March 13, a jury in California Superior Court awarded Terry Leavitt and her husband $29.4 million in the first Johnson & Johnson (J&J) talcum powder lawsuit to go to trial in 2019. Ms. Leavitt linked her mesothelioma diagnosis to her use of asbestos-contaminated J&J baby powder and Shower-to-Shower talcum powder. The verdict includes $22 million for pain and suffering, $5 million in compensatory damages, nearly $1.3 million for her medical costs and $1.2 million for lost wages.

Charleston, WV As the nation’s largest mass tort product liability lawsuit winds to a close, those who have suffered from surgical mesh complications and their attorneys are pausing to take stock. Not everyone is happy.

Kansas City, MO On February 21, 2019, Jonathan Foster, an Army Reserve veteran, filed a 3M Combat Arms defective earplug lawsuit in the Western District of Missouri. He suffers from tinnitus, a symptom of permanent hearing loss, because the earplugs supplied to him by the Army during his training and subsequent deployment to Afghanistan were badly designed. They failed to protect him from the preventable harm that the manufacturer guaranteed against.

Washington, DC The long-running Johnson & Johnson (J&J) talcum powder lawsuits have now taken a strangely contemporary turn as long-silent witnesses, both in this world and the next, tell tales. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have subpoenaed corporate documents, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) has requested information back to 1966. Could this end the corporate stonewalling that has stymied so many J&J talcum powder lawsuits for so long?

Santa Clara, CA: Since a whistleblower lawsuit last was settled for $9.1 million dollars, which alleged 3M sold Combat Arms defective earplugs to the military, hundreds of US army veterans nationwide have filed lawsuits against the company.

Three Forks, MT: Facing about 14,000 asbestos-talc cases claiming that talc causes ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, Imerys Talc America has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Court records indicate that defending a single case can cost Imerys $4 million and some juries have awarded damages up to $2.75 million against the company. Imerys is the sole supplier of cosmetic talc to Johnson & Johnson.

Washington, DC Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) has agreed to pay $120 million to the attorneys general of 46 states and Washington, D.C. to settle claims that the company made unfair and deceptive statements in the promotion of its ASR XL and Pinnacle Ultamet hip implant systems. A separate agreement is expected to resolve most of the thousands of consumer-driven defective hip implant lawsuits against J&J and its DePuy unit.

Santa Clara, CA: Despite a number of asbestos-talc lawsuits and studies to the contrary, Johnson & Johnson still stands by its talcum powder, asserting it doesn’t cause mesothelioma or ovarian cancer because their product sold to consumers never contained asbestos. J&J says plaintiffs are using attorney-driven science along with faulty studies. On the other hand, plaintiffs have brought scientific evidence showing studies linking talc exposure to cancer, adding that the giant pharma company knew the link for decades. As for the FDA, it’s still on the fence.

Atlanta, GA: “My husband and father-in-law were both diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and they both sprayed the backyard with Monsanto’s Roundup,” says Veronica. (Because studies have continually linked the herbicide to that type of cancer, it also referred to as 'Monsanto cancer'.)

San Francisco, CA: August 10, 2018 was a bad day for Bayer and Monsanto executives. That was the day when San Francisco jurors determined that Monsanto’s (and now Bayer’s) RoundUp and Ranger Pro caused cancer in a former school groundskeeper who claimed his terminal cancer had been caused by the glyphosate-based weed-killers.