A $260 million jury verdict obtained by Dallas-based law firm Dean Omar Branham Shirley against Johnson & Johnson over its talc-based baby powder is in jeopardy after an Oregon judge ruled to vacate the verdict.
Judge Katharine von Ter Stegge, in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Multnomah, did not offer a reason for her ruling during a hearing Friday but indicated she would issue a written opinion, said DOBS partner Trey Branham, whose firm represented the plaintiff, Kyung Lee, in the trial that concluded in June.
Lee, an Oregon mother of three, is suffering from mesothelioma that she said was caused by J&J’s baby powder. J&J is facing lawsuits nationwide from people who claim the company knew cancer-causing asbestos was turning up in its baby powder for decades but didn’t warn consumers or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Plaintiffs’ lawyers have pointed to internal company documents that they say show J&J’s knowledge.
Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide vice president of litigation, issued a blistering statement about Lee’s lawyers, accusing them of committing “numerous egregious errors.”
“Only through such prejudicial conduct have these lawyers secured their recent aberrant adverse jury verdicts, which have no basis in the law or science,” Haas wrote.
Haas said that the judge was correct in overturning the “indefensible” verdict.
“The research, clinical evidence, and over 40 years of studies by independent medical experts around the world continue to support the safety of talc,” Haas added.
J&J has denied the talc long used in its baby powder was contaminated with asbestos. The company announced in 2022 that it was discontinuing talc-based baby powder and would use cornstarch instead but denied the change was due to unsafe talc.
Branham said Lee’s lawyers will appeal the judge’s ruling.
“We are confident that there will not be a new trial and that this issue will be decided on appeal,” Branham said.
DOBS has been out-in-front representing plaintiffs in trials against J&J throughout the country – and winning.
Last month, the law firm obtained a $32.6 million verdict in South Carolina for a mesothelioma patient who sued J&J and American International Industries. The jury also hit J&J with $30 million in punitive damages and American International Industries with $760,000.
In June, DOBS lawyers began a trial against J&J in a Dallas court, but the parties reached a confidential settlement after just one witness testified.
In April, a jury in Illinois handed up a $45 million verdict in a wrongful death lawsuit against J&J and two of its subsidiaries.
DOBS lawyers are in trial against J&J this week in Connecticut, representing a man who has mesothelioma.
In Lee’s case, the jury said that J&J should pay $60 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages.
Lee will continue to be represented by DOBS and local counsel Devin Robinson in the appeal, Brahnam said.
The case is Kyung H. Lee et al. v. Bi-Mart Corporation et al., No. 23-CV-40369.