Michaeleen Lee was unstoppable.
At 70 years old, the grandmother, chemistry professor and runner won a marathon, attorney Jessica Dean told an Allegheny County jury.
Lee didn’t slow down until mesothelioma caused by Johnson & Johnson baby powder claimed her life in 2023 at age 80, Dean, a partner at Dallas-based Dean Omar Branham Shirley, told the jury in opening statements Monday.
DOBS, who has been in near back-to-back trials this year across the country against J&J over allegations its talc-based baby powder contained cancer-causing asbestos, is representing Lee’s children in the Pittsburgh trial. It is expected to last four weeks.
Lee’s family is among thousands of plaintiffs who are suing J&J, alleging the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant knew asbestos was turning up in its baby powder for decades but failed to warn consumers or regulators. J&J offloaded its potential liabilities from lawsuits brought by women who claim their ovarian cancers were caused by J&J’s powder into its Texas-based subsidiary, Red River Talc, which then filed for bankruptcy.
J&J has vehemently denied that its baby powder caused cancer and its vice president of litigation, Erik Haas, has accused plaintiff law firms of pushing “junk science” to win verdicts.
DOBS has netted five jury verdict wins this year, ranging from $15 million to $260 million. Two other cases settled during trial. Two cases resulted in mistrials: One because the plaintiff died during the trial and the other due to one juror getting sick and another presenting a potential conflict of interest.
The firm’s lawyers were ready to go to trial in August, but the plaintiff died on the eve of trial.
Another trial scheduled for July was delayed as J&J challenged a plaintiff expert.
In the Lee trial, the defendants are J&J, two holding companies called Johnson & Johnson Holding NA, and entities Kenvue and Pecos River Talc, which contains J&J mesothelioma cases, DOBS lawyers have said.
Talc supplier IMI Fabi was also a defendant in the Lee case but settled with plaintiffs on Monday as opening statements were underway.
Lee’s earliest memories of using J&J baby powder on her body stem from when she was 12 years old, Dean told jurors. A swimmer, Lee sprinkled the powder inside her swim cap to help secure it on her head. She used the powder on her two children and grandchildren, Dean said.
Lee, who once alerted campus officials to asbestos in the ceiling at the college where she worked for decades, used J&J baby powder unaware that testing had found asbestos traces in the powder, Dean said.
Internal documents will be presented throughout the trial that show J&J’s knowledge of asbestos and efforts to cover it up, Dean told jurors.
“The reason that they are here, the reason that we believe that they violated safety rule after safety rule of this state is because once they knew that it was there, they weren’t straight up,” Dean said. “They concealed it. They withheld information. They deceived.”
Will Stute, a King & Spalding partner representing J&J, denounced Dean’s allegation as “absolutely false.”
“Johnson & Johnson completely denies that there has ever been asbestos in its talc,” Stute said.
Even if the jury believes asbestos was in some of J&J’s talc, Stute said, the dosage would pale in comparison to the amount of asbestos later found in the college building where Lee worked.
After Lee was diagnosed with mesothelioma, she filed a lawsuit alleging there was asbestos in lab clothing she wore, Dean said. But evidence obtained from the lawsuit showed the suspected products weren’t in her college lab and the case was dismissed, Dean said.
Dean said her team will show jurors that Lee’s mesothelioma could have had multiple causes. Experts will also explain the latency period for mesothelioma to develop after exposure can amount to many years, Dean said.
Lee’s family is also represented by Sam Iola, Jordan Bollinger and Cori Kapusta of Dean Omar Branham Shirley.
Johnson & Johnson is also represented by Tara Blake and Cori Steinmann of King & Spalding and Christopher Arnold of Kelley Jasons McGowan Spinelli Hanna & Reber. The case number is GD 23-008055 and it is before Judge Philip A. Ignelzi in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania.