Talcum Powder Lawsuits Allowed Direct MDL Filing
The direct filing of Johnson & Johnson's baby powder lawsuits is now allowed before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey where the MDL is consolidated.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 - A procedural order in the multidistrict litigation related to Johnson & Johnson's baby powder lawsuits has now allowed the direct filing of claims to the MDL. This step allows plaintiffs and their talcum powder attorneys to submit their federal claims directly to the MDL, which consolidates federal lawsuits transferred by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. The process of the MDL was created to accelerate the process by which large litigations concerning similar claims are resolved in federal courts by placing all qualifying claims before a single federal judge.
Nationwide talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits were consolidated into multidistrict litigation in October of 2016 after talcum powder lawyers from both sides argued before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation for a transfer. The sides did not agree on the venue of the potential transfer, with plaintiffs' lawyers arguing for the Southern District of Illinois and the defendants pushing for the eventual choice of the District of New Jersey.
The District of New Jersey court is located in the same district of the Johnson & Johnson headquarters, which likely factored into the JPML's decision to consolidate the lawsuits before that court. The JPML takes into consideration the convenience of the parties involved as well as the court's proximity to important documents and testimony when deciding upon a MDL location. There were enough potential baby powder lawsuits and similar questions of fact in the claims for the proceeding to necessitate the creation of an MDL to handle the litigat
Though only a handful of Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits were included in the initial motion to transfer, which was filed in July of 2016, the number of claims in the MDL has continued to grow since the consolidation was approved. There were a few dozen tag-along cases mentioned in the motion to transfer filed by the JPML, but baby powder lawsuits that were filed in federal court also are free to join the MDL once it is created. The decision to open to MDL to direct filing only assists pending lawsuits looking to join the MDL as it does not require them to first file with a local federal court district.
The plaintiffs that have field the talcum powder lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson claim the company knew that their popular cosmetics were causing an increased risk for ovarian cancer for women who used it as a genital hygienic. The Johnson & Johnson lawsuits allege that there was evidence dating back decades tying the talcum powder products to ovarian cancer, and that Johnson & Johnson decided against warning consumers out of fear that such reporting could eventually hurt the marketability of their products.
The MDL is currently underway, with the consolidation of pretrial proceedings and talcum powder attorney conferences taking place to coordinate the progress of pretrial proceedings around the country before the single federal judge. The first bellwether trials before the MDL judge in the District of New Jersey federal court have not yet been announced, though talcum powder trials in St. Louis have been scheduled to take place throughout 2017.
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