Firm Wins Appellate Summary Judgment Dismissal of Cosmetic Talc Action against Johnson & Johnson on Causation Grounds
January, 2025 - New York, New York
On December 31, 2024, Patterson Belknap obtained a significant victory for our client Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in a products liability case concerning cosmetic talc. New York’s Appellate Division, First Department reversed the trial court and dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint against J&J on causation grounds, finding that J&J had met its summary judgment burden with epidemiological studies and expert testimony demonstrating that J&J’s cosmetic talc products could not have caused the plaintiff’s mesothelioma. Moreover, the appellate court agreed with the firm’s arguments that the causation evidence that the plaintiff submitted in response to J&J’s summary judgment motion was too speculative as a matter of law to allow the matter to proceed to trial. This precedent-setting decision represents the first time a New York court has granted summary judgment on causation grounds in a cosmetic talc case.
Though substantively unrelated, this latest win comes just a few months after the firm secured a separate appellate victory for J&J in its years-long effort to obtain data that is likely to debunk the made-for-litigation “science” driving these talc personal injury claims in courts throughout the country in the first place.
Patterson Belknap continues to represent J&J in its talc products liability cases.
To read the Court’s opinion, click here.
