Dallas-headquartered plaintiffs’ firm Dean Omar Branham Shirley convinced a Los Angeles jury to hit Johnson & Johnson with a $32 million verdict in favor of the family of a woman who used the company’s baby powder for years and died of mesothelioma.
The jury on Tuesday rendered a verdict finding Johnson & Johnson’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing Maria Lozano’s mesothelioma, and that its baby powder contained a manufacturing defect that was also a substantial factor in causing her fatal diagnosis.
The result drew a promise from Johnson & Johnson to “immediately appeal this verdict,” which the company’s worldwide vice president of litigation, Erik Haas, said is “irreconcilable with decades of scientific studies that prove that Johnson’s baby powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”
“And the verdict is contrary to the results rendered by the majority of juries who have heard the talc claims and ruled in Johnson & Johnson’s favor — including two juries who returned defense verdicts within the last two weeks,” he said in a statement issued to The Texas Lawbook.
The panel held Johnson & Johnson knew or should have known of the risks posed by the baby powder “in light of the scientific and medical knowledge that was generally accepted in the scientific community at the time of manufacture, distribution or sale,” according to the verdict form.
For past pain and suffering, jurors awarded Lozano $28 million, and awarded her family $4 million for the loss of her love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, moral support, training and advice.
Additionally, the jury cleared several other companies of negligence. They are: Addison-based Mary Kay, Max Factor, Revlon, Bendix Brakes, other companies that manufacture car parts, Asbestos de Mexico SA, Eureka SA de CV, Mexalit Industrial SA de CV and other manufacturers of asbestos-containing products in Mexico City.
Johnson & Johnson had told jurors Lozano contracted mesothelioma from environmental conditions in Mexico City, where she lived for the first 21 years of her life, or from the use of cosmetic products or via her husband’s work on automobiles.
Judge Graciela Freixes presided over the case.
The family is represented by Danny Kraft and Mark Linder of Dean Omar Branham Shirley.
“The jury concluded that Maria Lozano’s mesothelioma was caused by decades of exposure to asbestos-contaminated Johnson baby powder,” Kraft said in a statement issued to The Lawbook.
Johnson & Johnson is represented by Kimberly Branscome of Paul, Weiss.
The case number is 23STCV16061.