Court dismisses $224 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in talcum power lawsuit
CBSN
A New Jersey court has has thrown out a nearly $224 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson that was awarded to four people who alleged in a lawsuit that they got cancer from using the company's talcum-powder products.
The three-judge appeals court ordered a new trial after ruling that expert testimony presented in a lower court on behalf of the plaintiffs was faulty. J&J was ordered in 2019 to pay New Jersey residents Douglas Barden, David Etheridge, D'Angela McNeill-George and William Ronning $37.3 million, along with $186.5 million in punitive damages.
The company appealed that decision the following year, arguing that three experts selected to testify during the trial — William Longo, Jacqueline Moline and James Webber — presented flawed or incomplete information. Moline is an occupational medicine doctor at North Shore University Hospital in Long Island, New York. Longo is a materials scientist in Georgia, CEO of Micro Analytical Laboratories and a former member of the National Asbestos Council. Webber is an independent environmental health scientist and consultant from Oregon who has done research on asbestos contamination in air and water.
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