While the coronavirus has slowed things down, the Beasley Allen talcum powder team has continued moving forward in both the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) realm and in state courts across the country. With the recent favorable Daubert rulings in the MDL, Judge Freda Wolfson has now entered an order for 1,000 cases to complete Plaintiff Profile Forms. Beasley Allen represents 210 of these Plaintiffs, which will help advance the litigation to the next step in the bellwether process.
In state court in the Pennsylvania Kleiner case, Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson in Philadelphia has denied Johnson & Johnson’s Frye motions challenging the expert methodologies used by plaintiff’s experts. The Frye standard is similar to the federal Daubert standard, both of which are used to establish guidelines by which expert testimony will be ruled admissible. Judge Massiah-Jackson’s rulings mean all of the Plaintiff’s experts will be allowed to testify when this case goes to trial. The original June 15 trial setting for the Kleiner case has been set back, and the trial team is currently working hard to get a new date set.
In Illinois, Chief Circuit Judge Andrew Gleeson entered an administrative order vacating all civil jury trials set for 2020 and ordered them to be reset on a case-by-case basis. This has affected the upcoming Cadagin trial, which was set for July 6. That trial has now been set for Nov. 30, 2020. Additionally, a three-Plaintiff trial in St. Louis is scheduled to move forward on Feb. 19, 2021.
In Atlanta, Georgia, the Brower re-trial has not yet been reset; however, the team has been hard at work filing and responding to motions in preparation for this trial to be reset in the near future. In all of these efforts, the talc team has been utilizing new video/phone and other long-distance technology to conduct hearings and continue to advance the litigation while dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
While focusing on the above work, the Talc Litigation Team is also looking at getting a trial set in South Florida sometime in 2021. The team has also been doing additional discovery work nationwide in the pending cases.
Beasley Allen lawyers continue to investigate new cases involving women diagnosed with ovarian cancer after using talcum powder for feminine hygiene. For additional information on these cases, contact Ted Meadows, Leigh O’Dell or Brittany Scott.
This story appears in the July 2020 edition of The Jere Beasley Report. Read the Report online, download a PDF, and subscribe to be notified when new issues are released.
