Ending talc sales unlikely to aid J&J defense, plaintiffs say

Plaintiffs' attorneys applauded a decision by Johnson & Johnson to stop selling talc products in North America, but said it would only complicate the company's legal defenses.

In addition, they predicted that a recent Food and Drug Administration finding of traces of asbestos in the talc powder will pose another frustration for the company in court.

Johnson & Johnson reiterated in its announcement Tuesday that the company does not believe its talc products cause cancer, and said it would not recall product from stores.

The decision to stop selling talc in North America was made because of declining sales caused in part by the mass litigation, the company said.

"Demand for talc-based Johnson's Baby Powder in North America has been declining due in large part to changes in consumer habits and fueled by misinformation around the safety of the product and a constant barrage of litigation advertising," the company statement read.

Such a decision by the company is a rare, indirect result of what litigation can do, plaintiffs' attorneys said.

"You don't always get to see in real time the effect of what we are doing. And in this instance, it was not just our firm, there are a lot of lawyers who put a lot of time and effort into this," said David C. Greenstone of Simon, Greenstone, Panatier PC. His firm has won and lost mesothelioma cases brought against the company in California. Most recently, the firm secured a $750 million verdict from a New Jersey jury.

Johnson & Johnson said it would continue to vigorously defend the cases. "All verdicts against the company that have been through the appeals process have been overturned," the company statement read.

Oakland-based attorney John Langdoc of Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood, who also litigates mesothelioma cases against Johnson & Johnson, said the decision "has to unquestionably be an acknowledgment that there is something wrong with the product."

The 2,000 pending mesothelioma cases differ from the ovarian cancer lawsuits that produced verdicts as high as $4.7 billion. The company is facing 20,000 lawsuits over talc products.

Johnson & Johnson defense attorney Bart H. Williams of Proskauer Rose LLP, who defended the ovarian cancer lawsuits, did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Mark Robinson of Robinson Calcagnie Inc., who secured a $417 million verdict in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of a client whom he argued died from ovarian cancer due to use of baby powder. That verdict was slashed on appeal.

Aside from the negligence cases, the company is facing a lawsuit over alleged failure to provide warning labels. And what is believed to be the first mesothelioma case to be heard on appeal will go forward this summer.