$40 million talc verdict continues string of plaintiff wins

A Los Angeles jury found Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder contained asbestos and awarded a plaintiff couple $40 million, one in a string of plaintiff verdicts in the mesothelioma cases against the company.

The verdict, comprised entirely of compensatory damages, was on behalf of a woman who said she developed a tumor due to using the company’s product for 50 years. Her husband was a co-plaintiff. Cabibi v. Johnson & Johnson, BC665257 (L.A. County Sup. Ct., filed June 15, 2017).

After six days of deliberations, the jury in Superior Court Judge Rafael A. Ongkeko’s courtroom found the baby powder contained asbestos and caused plaintiff Nancy Cabibi’s cancer.

Last year, the pharmaceutical company won back-to-back defense verdicts and saw two other cases end in a mistrial. Since then, it has been hit with verdicts for $29.4 million, $12 million and $37.3 million. The punitive damages phase of the $12 million trial was cut short after the plaintiff died.

“I do think they are tough cases, but we are learning more as more information comes out that we are able to bring to our cases. We are going to see more of this,” said David Greenstone of Simon Greenstone Panatier, who represented the 71-year-old plaintiff in the latest case. Firm attorneys Stuart Purdy and Marissa Langhoff also represented the plaintiffs.

This is the third verdict the firm has extracted from Johnson & Johnson. In 2018, the firm’s attorneys secured a $25.75 million verdict against the company and a few weeks ago won the $37.3 million case. The firm is also litigating two other talc cases against the company, both in Los Angeles County.

Kimberly O. Branscome of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, who defended Johnson & Johnson, did not respond to a request for comment. The company has maintained its product isn’t contaminated with asbestos.

Previously, Johnson and Johnson lost a bid to remand nearly 2,000 mesothelioma cases to federal court. This case and the $37.3 million verdict last week were the first to be tried following their return from federal court, according to Greenstone.

The mesothelioma cases differ from thousands of ovarian cancer cases pending against the company, which dealt with perineal talc use and spawned verdicts as high as $417 million before being overturned on appeal.