A Los Angeles jury on Friday handed a $40 million win to a California woman diagnosed with mesothelioma in the latest talcum powder trial brought against Johnson & Johnson.
After six days of deliberation, the jury ruled that Johnson & Johnson baby powder products used by 71-year-old Nancy Cabibi was defective because it contained asbestos and that it caused Cabibi’s mesothelioma. The jury also determined Johnson & Johnson failed to adequately Cabibi and other users of the contaminants in its baby powder products.
The jury awarded Cabibi and her husband, Phil, $1 million in economic damages and $39 million in noneconomic damages.
The ruling is just the latest win against J&J for Dallas law firm Simon Greenstone Panatier, which has secured two other multimillion-dollar verdicts for mesothelioma plaintiffs exposed to asbestos while using Johnson’s Baby Powder.
Earlier this month, name partner Chris Panatier won a $37.3 million verdict against Johson & Johnson in its home state of New Jersey. And in May, Panatier and David Greenstone won a $25.75 million verdict for an Oregon woman in another California court.
“Nancy Cabibi was fighting to survive every single day because of asbestos in Johnson’s Baby Powder,” said Greenstone, who represented Cabibi in the current case. “While we are pleased with this verdict, we know that we must continue to fight on behalf of the Cabibis and so many others who have been harmed.”
Other attorneys at the Simon Greenstone firm on Cabibis’ case included Stuart Purdy and Marissa Langoff.
A group of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.-based attorneys from Kirkland & Ellis including Kimberly Branscome, Jay Bhimani and F. Chad Morriss represented Johnson & Johnson at trial. They declined comment.