7/13/2023 0 Comments Trials in tainted space ula![]() ![]() The company is moving to get on top of the litigation, said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who specialises in mass-tort cases. Larry Nassif, a partner at Simmons Hanly, Jeffrey Simon, a partner at Simon Greenstone, and Rick Meadow, who leads Lanier’s mass-tort practice, declined to comment on the accords.īloomberg Intelligence estimated in July that settling all the outstanding cases could cost J&J as much as $10bn. J&J settled more than 75 mesothelioma cases brought by Simmons Hanly and a similar number of such cases filed by Simon Greenstone, the people said. The Lanier settlement doesn’t address that giant verdict, which the New Brunswick, New Jersey, company has appealed again, but it resolves almost all the law firm’s remaining ovarian cancer and mesothelioma cases against the company, the people said. Lanier argued that J&J officials knew internal tests showed that asbestos, which researchers have linked to mesothelioma, tainted the powder, yet failed to disclose it for more than 40 years. Mark Lanier, a famed mass-torts practitioner, won a $4.7bn verdict against Johnson & Johnson in 2018, cut to $2.1bn on appeal. The settlements include cases brought by Simmons Hanly Conroy, Simon Greenstone Panatier PC and the Lanier Law Firm, according to the people. “Our talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer,” Montagnino said. ![]() She said “scientific evidence” supports that position. “In certain circumstances, we do choose to settle lawsuits, which is done without an admission of liability and in no way changes our position regarding the safety of our products,” Kim Montagnino, a J&J spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. Now that hiatus is about to end, as a trial over a factory worker’s claims of mesothelioma tied to talc is scheduled to start this month in California. The company used the lull, due to the pandemic, to hold settlement talks, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The deals come seven months since J&J last faced a jury reviewing evidence about the cancer risk of its signature talc product, which it maintains is safe, although it has replaced it with a cornstarch version in the US and Canada. They mark the first time Johnson & Johnson has settled the bulk of a plaintiffs lawyer’s cases in the baby powder suits, rather than individual suits on the eve of or during trial. The accords, struck with several law firms, signal that the world’s largest maker of health care products is trying to get ahead of the burgeoning litigation, with some 20,000 lawsuits still pending, according to securities filings. Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay more than $100mn to resolve over 1,000 lawsuits blaming its baby powder for causing cancer, in the first set of major settlements in four years of litigation, people with knowledge of the pacts said. ![]()
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