Talc Suit Tossed A Day Before Heading To Trial

Talc Suit Tossed A Day Before Heading To Trial

Introduction

A Philadelphia Judge dismissed claims filed against Colgate-Palmolive Co. that the company's Cashmere Bouquet talcum powder was the reason for a woman's mesothelioma, just one day before the trial was expected to begin.

The case would have been the first asbestos-in-talc case to go before a jury in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. Judge Kenneth Powell granted a summary judgment motion to Colgate-Palmolive Company after disqualifying the plaintiff's expert who was supposed to testify that Cashmere Bouquet-brand cosmetic talcum powder caused mesothelioma to the plaintiff. The other defendant in the case was Imerys Talc America Inc., who agreed to a settlement on Wednesday. The woman started using Cashmere Bouquet talcum powder in the mid-'50s until around 1970. She was diagnosed with mesothelioma in November 2015, and her husband filed a suit against Colgate Co. in the following month in Philadelphia County. In November 2017, Colgate filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that the plaintiff did not have enough evidence after a trial judge ruled that a pair of expert witnesses used unsound methods to determine the asbestos presence in Colgate’s talcum powder. The woman breathed her last in February 2018, leaving behind her husband, who is fighting the litigation on her behalf.

Juries handling Talcum powder litigation have so far awarded multi-million amounts over allegations that industrial or cosmetic talc contaminated with asbestos causes mesothelioma. Other defendants in the talcum litigation are Johnson & Johnson, Whittaker, Clark & Daniels, and Vanderbilt Minerals.