A New Jersey state court jury will hear closing arguments Monday in a long-running mesothelioma trial involving Johnson & Johnson’s cosmetic talc products, while at the same time a Los Angeles County jury will hear openings in the latest J&J talc case to go to trial in California.
Both trials involve plaintiffs alleging they developed mesothelioma by inhaling asbestos supposedly present in products like Johnson’s Baby Powder, and both trials are being webcast and recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The New Jersey trial began in late February and is the third J&J talc lawsuit to proceed to trial in the company’s home state. The previous two trials (also recorded by CVN) ended in a $117 million plaintiff verdict and a defense verdict.
The plaintiff in that case, Ricardo Rimondi, alleges that he used baby powder for the first 50 years of his life. Currently 58, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2016. He and his wife Pilar are represented by The Lanier Law Firm, while J&J is represented by attorneys from Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
In the California trial beginning Monday in Santa Monica, plaintiff Gail Koretoff, 36, also blames a 2016 mesothelioma diagnosis on a lifetime of exposure to products like Baby Powder and Shower to Shower. She is represented by Simon Greenstone Panatier PC, while J&J is represented by King & Spalding LLP.
J&J faces over 13,000 lawsuits nationwide claiming their cosmetic talc products cause ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, an allegation the company vehemently denies. While no ovarian cancer trials have taken place since last summer, the first few months of 2019 have seen a flurry of activity involving mesothelioma trials.
Monday’s opening and closing statements come on the heels of a recent $29 million verdict at a J&J talc trial in Oakland, California, which CVN also webcast and recorded.
Another J&J talc/mesothleioma trial in Long Beach, California has been underway since late February, along with an ongoing trial in Oklahoma City, the first cosmetic talc lawsuit to go to trial in the state.
More trials are potentially set to begin in California later this month and in April.
The ongoing New Jersey trial is captioned Ricardo and Pilar Rimondi v. Johnson & Johnson, case number L-2912-17 in Middlesex County Superior Court, before Judge Ana Viscomi.
The trial starting Monday in Los Angeles is captioned Gail Koretoff v. Arkema Inc., et al., case number BC656506 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, before Judge Chester Horn.
Gavel-to-gavel video of both trials is available to CVN subscribers, along with numerous cosmetic talc, asbestos and other product liability trials in CVN’s one-of-a-kind online video archive.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
