Personal Injury Legal News Articles & Interviews

Washington, DC For the first time ever, Johnson & Johnson recalled its baby powder (specifically single lot #22318RB, comprising 33,000 bottles) after the FDA announced trace levels of asbestos were found—purchased from an online retailer. J&J said it is working with the FDA to determine whether the product tested is authentic, counterfeit, or whether cross-contamination of the sample caused a false positive. And it also shows how the FDA lacks the ability to test consumer talc products.

Oakland, CAThere’s a dispute during the recent Roundup hearing: Monsanto has asked a California judge to depose cancer patients’ treating physicians first, but  plaintiffs’ attorney argues that will put his clients at an “extreme disadvantage”.

St Louis, MO: About 18,400 Monsanto glyphosate lawsuits alleging Roundup cancer are bound to put a large dent into the $63 billion that Bayer bought St. Louis-based Monsanto for last year. While Bayer knew it inherited the Roundup lawsuits, one plaintiff attorney believes the German pharmaceutical company wasn’t anticipating the high cost of losing.

Torrance, CA: To date, Johnson and Johnson has lost 14 talcum powder lawsuits (and is appealing most of those), has won seven cases, and five mesothelioma cases have resulted in hung juries and mistrials. The pharma giant is still facing over 14,000 lawsuits alleging its baby powder contained asbestos talc and caused cancer. Two California juries in October, however, rejected allegations that J&J’s talc contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma.

New JerseyJohnson & Johnson struck another loss in its asbestos talc trial September 11, 2019, and the pharma giant has been ordered to pay $37.3 to four plaintiffs – after the defendants’ attorney called the plaintiffs’ attorney “sinister”, according to Courtroom View Network. That seemed to be enough for the judge, the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.

Santa Clara, CA: A former member of the U.S. Navy SEABEES adds one more lawsuit to hundreds of others filed by veterans nationwide against 3M Corporation, claiming that the company falsified testing documents and knowingly manufactured and distributed 3M combat arms defective earplugs to the U.S. Military.

Atlanta, GA Judge Richard W. Story has now identified ten bellwether Ethicon Physiomesh lawsuits that will likely shape the multidistrict litigation pending in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia. Trials in these hernia mesh lawsuits are now scheduled to begin in April 2020. But there will be plenty to watch even before opening statements begin.

Denton, MT: A Montana farmer recently filed a Monsanto glyphosate lawsuit claiming its herbicide Roundup he used since 1982 caused his Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. In a similar case filed in France, a French court found Monsanto guilty of poisoning a farmer and in June the first Australian legal action was filed against Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018.

New Brunswick, NJ: Johnson & Johnson presented scientific literature during the latest asbestos talc trial on August 9 indicating a “weak link” between peritoneal mesothelioma and asbestos exposure, challenging testimony of pathologist John Maddox and the four plaintiffs who have been diagnosed with this form of cancer. All four were exposed to asbestos in J&J baby powder when they were babies, which allegedly caused their terminal cancer. Babies are even more susceptible to the risks of asbestos exposure because their cells are still developing and because they breathe faster, increasing the amount of asbestos they might breathe in, plaintiff’s attorney Moshe Maimon told the jury.

Trenton, NJ: Johnson & Johnson is hoping to snuff out over 20 plaintiffs’ expert witnesses from the multi-district litigation in a Daubert Hearing that began this week. The plaintiff cases are built on expert testimonies who say that asbestos fibers have been found in samples of talcum powder provided by plaintiff lawyers purchased on eBay and other places.