Baby Powder Lawsuit MDL Conference This Thursday

The first status conference will take place on Thursday regarding talcum powder lawsuits consolidated in multidistrict litigation.

Sunday, November 13, 2016 - The first status conference to be held in relation to the Johnson & Johnson's baby powder lawsuit MDL will be held today at 10 a.m. in New Jersey, where the claims were consolidated in October. The status conference will give talcum powder lawyers on both sides a chance to report the progress that has been made on talcum powder lawsuits from their home district, as well as any items or concerns they would like to add to the agenda for the conference. It is the first official meeting of the legal parties involved with the MDL, though it is not expected that all baby powder attorneys will be in attendance.

The motion to transfer talcum powder ovarian cancer litigation into multidistrict litigation was originally filed in July and then consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on October 4th. The transfer of the talcum powder lawsuits into multidistrict litigation will allow federal claims from across the nation to be heard before a single federal judge to help hasten the proceedings and help prevent duplicate discovery.

Talcum powder ovarian cancer lawyers have been representing women all over the country who claim that Johnson & Johnson did not do enough to warn them of the dangers regarding their popular cosmetic products. More than 20 medical studies have returned results supporting a connection between talcum powder and ovarian cancer. These studies have been published consistently since the 1970's and have fueled the more than 2,000 Johnson & Johnson's baby powder cancer lawsuits against the health care company.

Plaintiffs claim that given the number and breadth of these studies, Johnson & Johnson should be held responsible for not warning consumers of the cancer risk associated with their products. In response, Johnson & Johnson has claimed that the science behind the published studies is not reliable and that their products are in no way connected to ovarian cancer.

The hundreds of talcum powder lawsuits claiming the company is responsible for damages assert that Johnson & Johnson has been aware of these studies for decades. The allegations claim the company decided against affixing a warning label to the product in fear of risking the revenue stream that baby powder supplies, as well as damaging Johnson & Johnson's overall branding. These allegations are in addition to the negligence charges filed for the company's failure to protect its consumers.

The progression of the MDL will hinge on how Johnson & Johnson chooses to move forward with the talcum powder cancer lawsuit claims pending against the company. In 2016, roughly $195 million in damages were awarded to plaintiffs for claims filed against Johnson & Johnson. While Johnson & Johnson's baby powder lawyers are fighting for a venue change to shift litigation out of St. Louis where all the 2016 trials were heard, some legal experts think a lump sum settlement may be the best move to help the company cut its long-term litigative costs. It remains to be seen how the company will proceed in dealing with the baby powder lawsuits going forward, though the availability of multidistrict litigation will likely assist the process however it progresses over the coming months.

Information provided by TalcumPowderCancerLawsuit.com, a website devoted to providing news about talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits, as well as medical research and findings.