Ridgeland attorney Allen Smith, Jr. is suffering worse luck than a Mississippi State kicker in an Egg Bowl. A Los Angeles judge reversed yet another huge talcom powder jury award for Mr. Smith and his clients. Bloomberg reported today:
Johnson & Johnson got a $417 million jury verdict thrown out after a California judge agreed the company didn’t have a duty to warn a woman who has since died that its Baby Powder could cause ovarian cancer.
The ruling Friday erased the fourth-largest U.S. jury award of the year. It follows a Missouri appeals court’s ruling earlier in the week voiding a $72 million talc-powder verdict and adds momentum to J&J’s defense against thousands of similar lawsuits. The world’s largest health-care company denies there’s an increased cancer risk from using its talc products for female hygiene and points out that no government health authority has found otherwise.
A Los Angeles jury found the company liable two months ago for failure to warn a decades-long user of talc products and awarded the woman, who died after the trial ended, $70 million in compensatory damages and $347 million in punitive damages. The jury held the parent company responsible for $408 million of the total verdict with the balance going against the J&J consumer unit that has been making and selling Baby Powder and Shower to Shower since 1967.
California Superior Court Judge Maren Nelson agreed with J&J that under the law the parent company, which is a legally separate entity from the subsidiary, can’t be held liable for failure to warn if it isn’t the one manufacturing and marketing the product. The first study making a connection between talc powder and cancer dates from 1982, years after the J&J parent company stopped making Baby Powder itself.
The judge also found there was no convincing evidence that either J&J or its consumer products subsidiary acted with malice and should have to pay punitive damages...
In addition to throwing out all damages against the parent company, the judge voided the compensatory and punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., finding that the scientific evidence offered by the plaintiffs was in part speculative.
"The best that can be said is that there was, and is, an ongoing debate in the scientific and medical community about whether talc more probably than not causes ovarian cancer and thus giving rise to a duty to warn," Nelson said. "Clear and convincing evidence of malice is lacking."
In June, a Missouri judge halted a trial in St. Louis at J&J’s request following a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting out-of-state plaintiffs joining lawsuits in state court. Up to then, J&J had been hit with verdicts as high as $110 million by Missouri juries. The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company is appealing those verdicts.
The case is Lloyd v. Johnson & Johnson, BC628228, California Superior Court, Los Angeles County (Los Angeles). Rest of article.
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| Allen Smith, Jr. Credit; Mississippi Today |
$417 million, $110 million, $72 million, $55 million.......
How much money was spent on these cases?
25 comments:
The lawyers are the ones who will be out millions. Hate it for ya.
Shit like this is why I dislike lawyers!
Asbestos and tobacco days never to return.
It's just a matter of time...money, human nature, greed, ego...
Every product you purchase costs more due to huge verdicts like these. When a company gets hit with a huge verdict they either survive and pass it on to the consumer or they go out of business. Glad someone is putting a stop to these jackpot payouts.
While we are on the subject of these type lawsuits, I remember the tobacco lawsuit started in the late 80's, and correct me if I'm wrong on the time frame. My questions are?
How much money did Mike Moore make himself even though he was the AG at the time?
Why was the money funneled through a bank in Pascagoula, Moore's hometown?
Where did the money that the state was given go to?
How much did the Cirlot Agency get for their lamel commercials?
These questions have always crossed my mind and now that Moore has sold his Flowood home but retains a residence in Florida, will he be suing the Opioid makers on behalf of Mississippi and Florida?
Any truth to the rumor that the tobacco lawyers made an average of
$13,800 per HOUR
of time they spent in the tobacco settlement?
If this is true, the epithet "scumbag" fits.
I hope that my questions above have sparked some interest as to how that issue worked out for the state with it being the attorneys, (Dickie Scruggs, David Nutt and the rest) got their cut OFF THE TOP and the state got the remainder. I may be wrong and correct me if I am. I would just love to know if this Smith guy is going to make a payday like the others and I'm quite sure shit like this is why corporations don't want to locate to Mississippi. Oh, by the way, David Nutt now owns Reunion....
Some of the tobacco lawyers signed on near the end and put like or no time in but still made millions. Friends taking care of friends
What's a 'lamel commercial' and why did Cirlot run them?
Really like your title for this article, KF. Wicked sense of humor. :)
Big losses for R. ALLEN SMITH, JR., and Booster 14; maybe they have much
more in common like identity.How many attorneys and their paralegal have vehicles described by Leo Lewis.
Want to find out about the tobacco and absoestos cases read fall of the house of Zeus it answers a lot of questions asked here. Like the reason the money went to a bank in Pascagoula is that is where Scruggs lived.
to 10:02....... you don't know much about the legal system do you? the case was reversed on appeal. the defendants did not payout anything on the verdict.
you just an chicken little who says the sky is falling.
I don't know this Allen guy, but what is it about him people do not like?
I lost my wife to ovarian cancer. I do not know if talcum powder caused it or not, and yes she did use it. No I am not a part of any lawsuit whatsoever and neither is my daughter who lost her mom when she was 6. I would like to know the cause of her cancer, but have reconciled myself that I may never know. If any company manufactured something with knowledge that a product would cause cancer in an otherwise exceptionally health conscious lady, then I believe the person who did this should be held accountable either by a judge here, or by the one they will eventually see.
9:53 - My heartfelt condolences. I lost both parents to cancer at a fairly early age. I agree with your comment.
Gotta rant a bit now:
Most lawyers are scumbags, the legal system is not for the common person, and mega-billion drug companies are all the same. There is NO WAY a normal taxpaying, hard working, day-to-day, middle income person gets a fair, level playing field in any of that. I see it like the NFL, week to week, they play their game among each other, high-five(taunt, end-zone dance, brag, spike the ball, etc.) when the win, appeal when they lose (pout, kick, blow-up, tantrums). Its like that in that "practice"; its even called a 'practice' because they never grow up to be real professional, just continue to practice. And that's exactly what it is, a system they created for themselves, to never be TRULY accountable to the victim (or the one they represent), make deals that benefit THEM (their name, reputation, status, or mostly their wallet). From federal, district, state, local, judges, prosecutors, court reporters, bailiffs, attorneys, courthouse management, and all those in between, etc. is a BIG GAME! No one can tell you anything solid about anything before, during or after you 'buy your ticket' to play (file). Decisions are based SOLELY ON WHAT YOU CAN PAY! And big business ($$$) will win 99.9% of the time. Any big business that loses is because they didn't pay enough to the system or the other "owners" what them out of business. So "deals" are cut among themselves for their benefit (ever wonder why the common person in not in those conversations? - cause its not to your benefit - its for them to deal for their benefit). Why do even need a lawyer for anything - its because they built the system and the ONLY way you are allowed any satisfactory/fair resolution is if you hire a player of the game. Then its game on for them to win/lose or tie. If the system wasn't corrupt, no one would need a lawyer. Legal Fairness/honest treatment is a variable that is granted only by the almighty $.
I'm done!
"Otherwise healthy people" has nothing whatever to do with who among us comes down with cancer.
LOOK WHAT FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL MOORE WAS PAID ($8,000,000)for his services regarding WORLDCOM. That disgusting payment was negotiated by our present Attorney General Hood and paid by the Taxpayers of Mississippi.
Is there anyone in State government that watches the fox in the hen house ?????????
They are all dirty and all have blood on their hands. I'm speaking of politicians in our state and attorneys. 11:51 hit the mark and I can tell through his post that he is like many of us who are sick and tired of being scared of saying or doing anything that will get you sued. It's a roll of the dice when you drive your vehicle on the road and you wonder when, not if, you are going to be in a wreck and someone sues you. Or, you own a small business and have to defend yourself or file a suit against another party and it becomes a losing battle.
"Is there anyone in State government that watches the fox in the hen house ?????????"
Hell yes! There are plenty of people in state government watching. But only so they can learn how to do it.
to 5:06 and 11:51.......... i hope you 2 but hurt , whiner bedwetters get the perfect world that you deserve.
"to 5:06 and 11:51.......... i hope you 2 but hurt , whiner bedwetters get the perfect world that you deserve."
October 24, 2017 at 9:41 AM
To my Thanksgiving List, I'll add thanks for not knowing YOU. Your words are those of a sociopath and a CREEP.
to 2:45..... and you are just another wimp who can't handle the truth. stuff your turkey with that.
hello 2:25.... if you want to "know" people you better get on another blog where there is no anonymous commenting
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