Dean Omar Branham Shirley, the Dallas-based law firm that has racked up numerous wins on behalf of clients who allege Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder caused their mesothelioma, has done it again.
In a verdict returned by a California jury Monday evening, jurors determined Mae Moore, who died in December 2021 of mesothelioma, was exposed to Johnson’s baby powder or Shower to Shower, a body powder product, that contained asbestos, that the company was negligent in selling the product and that it was a substantial cause of Moore contracting mesothelioma.
Jurors also held the company failed to adequately warn of the dangers of the products, which were “known or knowable in light of the scientific and medical knowledge that was generally accepted in the scientific community at the time of manufacture, distribution [and] sale.”
For pain and suffering, the jury awarded Moore $6 million and her three adult children a collective $10 million in damages “for the loss of Mae Moore’s love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, moral support, training and advice.”
The panel rejected arguments that Avon, Chanel Inc., Colgate-Palmolive and Revlon Inc., who were all non-parties in the lawsuit, were negligent or at fault for Moore’s injuries. The jurors determined none of the following products were responsible for Moore’s injuries: Skin So Soft, Night Magic, Sweet Honesty, Timeless, Chanel No. 5, Chanel No. 19, Cashmere Bouquet and Jean Naté.
The jury slammed Johnson & Johnson with $950 million in punitive damages.
Erik Haas, worldwide vice president of litigation for Johnson & Johnson, issued a statement to The Lawbook Tuesday vowing to “immediately appeal this egregious and unconstitutional verdict.”
He noted Johnson & Johnson prevailed against DOBS in a talc case last week in South Carolina and argued the Dallas-based plaintiff firm “based their arguments on ‘junk science’ that never should have been presented to the jury, as it is refuted by decades of studies demonstrating Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”
“The plaintiff lawyers’ business model is to roll the dice in search of jackpot verdicts, fueled by litigation-funded junk science, without regard to the fact that most claimants recover nothing in the tort system,” the statement reads.
DOBS lawyer Trey Branham issued a statement to The Lawbook Tuesday that Moore’s lawsuit “was delayed by Johnson & Johnson’s bad faith bankruptcies.”
“While justice was slow in coming, the jury spoke and spoke loudly,” the statement reads. “We remain ever hopeful that Johnson & Johnson will finally accept responsibility for these senseless deaths.”
Including Branham, DOBS lawyers Danny Kraft and Venus Burns represented the plaintiff.
The case number is CV-05513 in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.
Update: This article has been updated with comments from Johnson & Johnson and Dean Omar Branham Shirley.