CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Stuart Purdy delivering his opening statement
Los Angeles, CA - A California state court jury heard opening statements Tuesday in a lawsuit blaming an elderly woman’s mesothelioma on asbestos fibers she alleged inhaled while doing her son’s laundry after he worked with automotive brakes at Pep Boys, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Alex Munoz sued Pep Boys in 2024 following the death of his wife Renate Munoz a year earlier. Munoz claims Renate was exposed to asbestos while her son worked at Pep Boys in the 1970’s, but Pep Boys blamed her illness on exposure to cosmetic talc products and a wide range of underlying medical conditions.
Plaintiff attorney Stuart Purdy of Simon Greenstone Panatier PC told the Los Angeles County jury that despite being 85 years old, Renate Munoz lived an active and independent life until her mesothelioma diagnosis and rapid decline.
Purdy explained how her son from another marriage, John Canty, did automotive brake work both at Pep Boys and at home while living with Renate from 1973 to 1976, and how during that period Renate cleaned Canty’s work clothes on a regular basis.
He acknowledged that Renate also used cosmetic talc products throughout her life, but he insisted her level of exposure from brake asbestos was dramatically higher.
“We’re going to talk to you about those levels of exposure,” he told the jury. “You know when we talk about a 25-50 percent asbestos-containing brake, if that’s being disturbed or blown out with compressed air versus how much asbestos is actually in talcum powder…very very small amount in talcum powder, but nevertheless studies have detected it.”
Purdy accused Pep Boys, which markets itself as the “world’s largest automotive specialist” of selling asbestos-containing brakes without adequately warning customers for years despite widespread studies showing the mineral posed serious health risks. The company ultimately halted sales of asbestos containing products in 2001.
“If anybody was to know about these dangers of brakes and what they can or can’t do to people Pep Boys was in the best position to know that,” Purdy said.
Alex Munoz’s complaint originally included numerous cosmetic talc companies as defendants, but only Pep Boys remained when the case proceeded to trial.
Representing Pep Boys, defense attorney Joseph Gunter of The Cook Group told jurors that Renate Munoz wore so much makeup her son referred to her as a “glam doll” in deposition testimony, and he argued her exposure to asbestos supposedly present in cosmetic talc products vastly outweighed any exposure from laundering her son’s clothes.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Joseph Gunter delivering his closing argument
Gunter claimed Renate used cosmetic talc products “constantly” in her personal life addition to working at a beauty salon where she was potentially exposed to asbestos in a number of other beauty products.
He previewed expert witness testimony he said would show many plaintiffs in similar cases develop mesothelioma solely from exposure to cosmetic talc products.
“Asbestos talc in cosmetics and baby powder…that can be it, just that” Gunter said.
He also cited Renate’s advanced age and complex medical history, telling jurors she’d had breast cancer, was a former smoker with COPD and asthma and chronic kidney disease, among other conditions.
“By the time Ms. Munoz contracted cancer, she was not doing very well before that happened,” Gunter told jurors.
The trial is taking place before Judge Frederick Shaller and is expected to take roughly two weeks to complete. CVN’s live and on-demand coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
The case is captioned Frank Munoz, et al.v. Avon Products Inc., et al., case number 24STCV15955 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com