PITTSBURGH - Johnson & Johnson has avoided a jackpot verdict in Pittsburgh, though jurors there still tried to punish the company for selling Baby Powder.
Law.com reported Tuesday that an Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas jury tried to impose $22 million in punitive damages against J&J despite not finding it caused the mesothelioma of the late Michaeleen Lee.
Representing the plaintiff was the Dallas asbestos firm Dean Omar, a frequent opponent of J&J as the company contends these thousands of lawsuits were borne by unreliable science that claims its talcum powder contains asbestos.
Juries around the country deliver mixed results but some verdicts are eye-popping when they go for plaintiffs. In South Carolina's controversial asbestos court, J&J was hit with a $63 million verdict last year in a Dean Omar case.
The plaintiff bar's frenzy for clients was launched when Mark Lanier scored $4.7 billion verdict on behalf of 22 women in 2018. It was reduced to $2 billion, which was affirmed when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear J&J's appeal.
Erik Haas, the worldwide vice president of litigation for J&J, said the verdict in Pittsburgh showed the jury refused the "baseless claims of the mass tort plaintiffs' bar." It's a stance the company has taken since the early days of this litigation when it was discovered a plaintiff expert's firm was cashing in on pro-plaintiff testimony.
"(T)his litigation is driven (by) paid-for science fomented and financed by plaintiffs' firms - which in this instance was squarely refuted by the irrefutable evidence that plaintiff's disease was caused by exposures other than the company's talc products," he added.
"The junk science advanced by the plaintiffs' bar has resulted in widespread information, fostered unfounded fear, and distracted attention and resources from the critical work needed to better understand genetics and the other causes of spontaneous cancer, and the development of interventions to improve survival rates."
Still, Law.com reported, the jury found J&J misrepresented the safety of its talc products, though it stopped short of blaming the company for Lee's cancer. Jurors ignored instructions punitive damages should only be awarded if they found J&J's products caused the cancer, issuing a $22 million award that will not stand.
Last year, Dean Omar won the South Carolina verdict, $45 million in Chicago, $260 million in Oregon (since overturned) and $15 million in Connecticut.
The firm's tactics have frustrated J&J, with partner Jessica Dean once crying during her client's testimony. Lawyers also placed a tall stack of cancer textbooks topped with a microscope in front of them in one case, which J&J complained prevented jurors from being able to see its counsel.
Meanwhile, J&J seeks to resolve its asbestos liabilities in Texas bankruptcy court, though lawyers representing claimants disagree on whether to accept the multibillion-dollar plan that would keep cases away from juries.