Defense Verdict in New Jersey Cosmetic Talc Case Under New Jersey’s Product Liability Act

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In a case of first impression under New Jersey’s Product Liability Act, a Middlesex County, New Jersey jury returned a defense verdict in a mesothelioma case involving a 60-year-old plaintiff who claimed exposure to cosmetic talcum powder products in the 1950s-1970s that were allegedly contaminated with trace amounts of asbestos. The jury found that Shulton, Inc., the supplier of some of the products to which the plaintiff claimed exposure, and Whittaker, Clark & Daniels, Inc., the supplier of some of the raw talc used to make some Shulton products, did not sell a talc product that was unreasonably safe because it lacked a warning or was defectively designed. The jury also found that the plaintiff was not exposed to any defective talc products sold by those defendants nor that her use of any of the defendants’ talc products was a substantial cause of her mesothelioma. In addition, the jury further found that, when the defendants sold their talc products,  it was neither known nor knowable that they could allegedly cause an asbestos-related disease.

Read the verdict sheet here.