CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Daniel Robinson delivering his opening statement
Los Angeles, CA - A California state court jury heard opening statements this week in a closely watched lawsuit claiming three women died from ovarian cancer after using Johnson & Johnson’s cosmetic talc-based baby powder, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The trial comes on the heels of another ovarian case last December ending in a $40 million verdict also covered by CVN. The vast majority of trials involving Johnson’s Baby Powder to date featured claims related to mesothelioma, and far fewer trials over ovarian cancer-related claims have gone before juries.
Johnson & Johnson maintains their talc products never contained asbestos, and while they’ve since replaced the talc in Baby Powder with cornstarch, that there is no evidence to support a causal relationship between cosmetic talc use and ovarian cancer - an argument that has resulted in numerous talc defense verdicts nationwide.
The full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel both live and on-demand by CVN. In addition to the live and on-demand video, CVN’s webcast features time-synced digital images of exhibits and demonstratives. Please click here to contact CVN for information on various individual and group subscription rates.
Plaintiff attorney Andy Birchfield of Beasley Allen told the Los Angeles County jury during his opening statement Johnson & Johnson knew as far back as the 1970’s that asbestos intermingled with talc deposits posed a potential safety risk to consumers.
He accused the company of selling the product for decades without any warning labels despite that knowledge in order to protect sales of a popular national brand. Birchfield didn’t ask for a specific amount of damages in his opening but did state he would pursue punitive damages at the conclusion of the trial.
Representing Johnson & Johnson, Kirkland & Ellis partner Julia Romano insisted the type of talc J&J used in their products never contained asbestos, and that none of the women ever had any asbestos particles detected in their ovarian tissue.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Julia Romano delivering her opening statement
Romano insisted the science simply doesn’t support a relationship between cosmetic talc use and ovarian cancer. In mesothelioma cases, J&J attorneys frequently note that talc miners with vastly higher exposure to the mineral than average people don’t show higher accompanying levels of cancer.
Given the relatively few ovarian cancer-related talc cases to go to trial, an army of high-powered legal teams have descended on the Spring Street Courthouse in Los Angeles, where the trial is expected to take up to seven weeks to complete.
In addition to Beasley Allen, the plaintiffs are represented by teams from Robinson Calcagnie, Wisner Baum and Kiesel Law.
J&J is represented by Kirkland & Ellis, which has become the company’s primary “go-to” firm for cosmetic talc trial representation in recent years.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
