Georgia Baby Powder Lawsuit Plaintiffs Support MDL
Plaintiffs from three talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits filed a supportive response to a July motion to transfer talc litigation into an MDL, though preferred Georgia to host the proceedings instead of the original proposed location of Illinois.
Saturday, August 13, 2016 - Plaintiffs involved in three Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder lawsuits currently filed before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia have expressed their support of consolidating nationwide talc lawsuits into multidistrict litigation. The plaintiffs all were included in an August 8 response to the motion to transfer, which was originally filed by plaintiff Tanashiska Lumas on July 15. The three lawsuits that were included in the response were all filed before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia within the last month, and also all supported that court as their preferred destination for the nationwide claims to be consolidation.
The preference of the plaintiffs in the response to consolidate the lawsuits in the Georgian federal court is at odds with the original motion to transfer, which names the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois as its preferred location. The motion to transfer claims that the southern Illinois court's proximity to St. Louis, where most of the talcum powder cancer lawsuit trials have taken place, would make it the best option for consolidation. However, the Georgia plaintiffs note that the Illinois judge requested already is overseeing multiple MDLs and assigning another one may overburden his workload.
The response to the motion to transfer instead suggested that U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land be assigned the position of overseeing the potential Johnson & Johnson's baby powder lawsuit MDL. The Georgian plaintiffs note that he is currently overseeing only one MDL, and that his experiencing in dealing with multidistrict litigation makes him an ideal candidate to preside over the talcum powder lawsuits.
Plaintiffs around the country have hired talcum powder cancer attorneys to represent their claim that Johnson & Johnson was aware of a connection between ovarian cancer and their talcum powder products and elected against warning consumers. The baby powder cancer lawsuits have already resulted in more than $100 million in damages awarded to plaintiffs in 2016, and more than 1,200 lawsuits against the health care company are currently pending. Law firms have also reported receiving thousands of prospective claims from women who claim their ovarian cancer diagnoses may have been caused by Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder.
Talcum powder ovarian cancer lawyers have discovered more than three decades of medical research supporting a correlation between talcum powder and ovarian cancer in women, and recovered internal correspondence from Johnson & Johnson that shows the company was warned of the implications not warning their consumer base of the risk could have in the future. It seems those chickens have come home to roost, as transferring the litigation into an MDL would represent the potentially massive amount of legal action coming against the company.
The motion to transfer will be heard before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on September 29 in Washington D.C., where they will make a decision on whether to consolidate the litigation into an MDL or send the claims back to their district courts for individual resolutions. Though the Georgian plaintiffs supported the MDL, there are other claimants who have not supported the potential transfer. These parties claim that the MDL will not serve many lawsuits that have already exhausted the discovery portion of the proceedings and that resolutions to pending claims will only be muddied by multidistrict litigation.
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