Talc Ovarian Cancer Lawsuits To Stay In Missouri State Court, Despite J&J Objections

The Missouri Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by Johnson & Johnson to delay and eventually transfer hundreds of talc ovarian cancer lawsuits brought in the state by women nationwide, paving the way for additional cases to proceed to trial in St. Louis, where juries have previously hit the manufacturer with massive damage awards. 

There are currently about 2,000 Johnson’s Baby Powder lawsuits and Shower-to-Shower lawsuits pending against Johnson & Johnson in Missouri, each involving allegations that the manufacturer failed to warn women about the ovarian cancer risks associated with use of their talc powder products for feminine hygiene purposes.

Most of the complaints filed in that state involve women who do not reside in Missouri, as state rules allow non-residents to file their case in the state if they are combined on a complaint with a resident.

Over the past year, several “bellwether” trials have resulted in massive verdicts by St. Louis juries, including awards of $72 million in February 2016, $55 million in May 2016, and $70 million in October 2016.

After considering evidence surrounding the link between talc and ovarian cancer, each of the juries awarded compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages designed to punish the defendants for actively withholding information from women and to deter similar bad behavior by other corporations.

With at least six additional bellwether trials set to begin in 2017, Johnson & Johnson has attempted to prevent further cases from going before Missouri state court juries and argued that claims brought by out-of-state plaintiffs should be removed to the federal court system.

In an opinion issued last week, the Missouri Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of prohibition, which sought to delay the start of a trial set to begin on February 6, involving a talc lawsuit filed by 56 year old Nora Daniels, who is a resident of Tennessee and indicates she developed ovarian cancer from talc in Johnson’s Baby Powder.

Johnson & Johnson has been attempting to avoid further St. Louis trials, while pushing for cases in other venues to proceed to trial first, where it believes more favorable rules exist regarding the admissibility of expert testimony.

In the federal court system, all talc powder lawsuits are centralized before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in New Jersey, as part of a federal MDL or multidistrict litigation. The cases are consolidated to reduce duplicative discovery into common issues and for a series of federal bellwether trials, which may test the evidence against federal rules and help gauge how juries in a different venue will respond to the evidence and testimony.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) just established the consolidated talc MDL in late last year, and the first federal bellwether trials have yet to be scheduled.

Unless Johnson & Johnson agrees to pay talc ovarian cancer settlements, the manufacturer could be hit with many more massive verdicts in the coming year, as additional bellwether cases go to trial, where juries will hear evidence about how Johnson & Johnson continued to market use of their Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower products to adult women for “personal freshness,” despite knowledge of evidence that talc may cause ovarian cancer.