Lawyers with Dallas-based Dean Omar Branham Shirley told jurors in Boston this week that Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder caused their client’s life-threatening mesothelioma and the company should pay $25 million in damages.
J&J’s lead lawyer — King & Spalding partner Bruce Hurley from Houston — countered that the case against his client was based on junk science and that the plaintiff worked in an old building known to have asbestos, which may have caused her cancer.
The Massachusetts jury apparently decided that both Texas lawyers doing battle in their courtroom made strong arguments.
The 13-person jury heard 10 days of testimony and then deliberated for a day and a half before finding that J&J was liable for negligence and breach of warranty that caused 84-year-old Janice Paluzzi’s cancer, which was diagnosed in 2021.
But the panel awarded Paluzzi only $8 million in past and future pain and suffering.
Ben Braly, a partner at Dean Omar, one of the attorneys representing Paluzzi, argued that the evidence proved that J&J knew for decades that its talcum powder products contained asbestos yet the New Jersey-headquartered healthcare giant still marketed its talc powder as safe.
“I imagine the evidence of the presence of asbestos in J&J’s talc used in baby powder in conjunction with the existence of a non-talc alternative that performed the same function as talc-based baby powder both weighed heavily,” Braly told The Texas Lawbook. “The testimony of our client, Janice Paluzzi, was very powerful.”
“I don’t think I can speculate about why the jury did not agree with the suggestion of $25 million in past pain and suffering,” Braly said. “I trust that the jury did what they felt was a full measure of justice for Janice, and we are all grateful for their collective wisdom and effort in the process.”
Braly said the parties agreed to allow an alternate juror to deliberate and decide the verdict.
In a statement, J&J said the company plans to appeal the verdict.
“This decision is predicated on ‘junk science’ that is refuted by decades of studies that demonstrate Johnson’s baby powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer,” J&J said in its written statement. “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. These talc lawsuitsclog and impose extraordinary costs on the judicial system with contrived ‘scientific’ debates that should be presented to and decided by the scientific agencies authorized by Congress to evaluate such questions.”
Other Texas lawyers representing Paluzzi included Anthony Bianco and Aaron Chapman. Early, Lucarelli, Sweeney & Meisenkothen and the Carter Law Group also represented the plaintiff. The case is Janice Paluzzi v. Johnson & Johnson, Civil Action No. 21-2109, filed in Suffolk County Superior Court in Massachusetts.