SC Judge Tosses 200 Talc Lawsuits Over Jurisdiction Grounds

SC Judge Tosses 200 Talc Lawsuits Over Jurisdiction Grounds

Introduction

Delaware Superior Court Judge Charles Butler dismissed 200 talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits on Monday, which were filed by out-of-state plaintiffs. The dismissal was announced considering that J&J selling talc in Delaware is not sufficient for the state court to have a jurisdiction following the U.S. Supreme Court's Bristol-Myers Squibb ruling. The talcum giant is headquartered in New Jersey, while the cases were bought by Delaware plaintiffs.

Meanwhile, J&J is also seeking to dismiss a motion filed to allow jurisdictional discovery in the coordinated California docket for talcum powder claims bought by out-of-state plaintiffs. The opposition was filed on September 4 in the California Superior Court for Los Angeles County, where the defendants J&J and Imerys Talc Supplier assert the plaintiffs are not citizens of the state and they did not buy the product in the state.

Several Talcum powder trials are underway in federal courts across the nation over asbestos-related mesothelioma and ovarian cancer claims. The outcome of the bellwether trials would determine how juries would react to certain evidence and testimony for other related lawsuits. More than more than 10,000 claims are pending against the company in California, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia Courts. The multidistrict litigation (MDL 2738; In Re: Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation) involving allegations of asbestos-in-talc causing ovarian cancer has been centralized for coordinated pretrial proceedings in the District of New Jersey presided over by Hon. Freda L. Wolfson, U.S.D.J./ Hon. Lois H. Goodman.