Cosmetic Talc Litigation Media Coverage December 01, 2016

Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

US Coverage

1. Court Urged to Weigh Financiers' Roles When Picking Lead Counsel in Talc MDL

   Dec 1, 2016 | New Jersey Law Journal

   By Amanda Bronstad
   
   
   Johnson & Johnson has asked a federal judge to order plaintiffs' attorneys applying for lead roles in the multidistrict litigation over its talcum powder products to disclose whether they are backed by third-party financiers.

Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

US Coverage

1. Court Urged to Weigh Financiers' Roles When Picking Lead Counsel in Talc MDL

   Dec 1, 2016 | New Jersey Law Journal

   By Amanda Bronstad

   Johnson & Johnson has asked a federal judge to order plaintiffs' attorneys applying for lead roles in the multidistrict litigation over its talcum powder products to disclose whether they are backed by third-party financiers.

   In the request, filed on Monday, Johnson & Johnson attorney Susan Sharko said her client was "troubled by the prospect of third-party litigation finance playing a role in this MDL proceeding." She cited a Nov. 21 application in which attorney Rick Root said his firm, New Orleans-based Morris Bart, "self-funds its mass torts practice."

   "This statement suggests awareness that other applicants for the plaintiffs' steering committee are not self-funded, but instead are being financed by outside entities through a practice common referred to as third-party litigation funding," wrote Sharko, a partner in the Florham Park, New Jersey, office of Drinker Biddle & Reath. Such "unnamed investors" could "exert control or influence over plaintiffs' conduct in this litigation," she wrote.

   In a response on Tuesday, Root clarified that his statement made no reference to how other firms were financed.

   Neither Sharko nor a Johnson & Johnson spokesman responded to a request for comment. Root also did not respond to a request for comment.

   The request highlights increasing concern among the defense bar that plaintiffs' attorneys should disclose the use of third-party financing firms. At least one federal district, in California, has proposed a rule that would require more transparency over outside funding.

   More than 1,700 women have sued Johnson & Johnson, alleging its talcum powder products caused them to get ovarian cancer. Most of the suits are in state courts. About 200 lawsuits are pending in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Superior Court. Another 250 plaintiffs have 60 suits in Los Angeles Superior Court. And 20 cases are in the 22nd Judicial District in St. Louis, filed on behalf of more than 1,400 plaintiffs, where juries have come out with verdicts of $72 million, $55 million and $70 million this year.

   The multidistrict litigation in federal court involves about 60 cases that the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred to U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson on Oct. 4.Plaintiffs lawyers have backed Michelle Parfitt and P. Leigh O'Dell to be co-lead counsel of the MDL. In their Nov. 21 application, Parfitt, a senior partner at Ashcraft & Gerel in Alexandria, Virginia, and O'Dell, a principal at Montgomery, Alabama's Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, proposed a slate of 17 attorneys to serve in lead roles but made no mention of third-party funding. They did, however, emphasize that the litigation would involve millions of dollars in discovery costs, with bellwether trials alone costing up to $1 million apiece.

   "Because this litigation involves one of Johnson & Johnson's flagship products, plaintiffs expect that the litigation will be hard-fought and protracted," they wrote. "For these reasons, the PSC must be composed of sufficient numbers of individuals whose firms can adequately discover and fund the litigation."

   Johnson & Johnson has questioned the amount of discovery needed in the litigation.

   "It is essential for the courts in the talc cases as well as other litigation to know whether outside investors or hedge funds may be influencing or controlling the plaintiffs' case and how they may benefit from it," said Lisa Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform, a frequent critic of third-party financing. "It's also become apparent that funded cases are often poorly investigated and should receive special scrutiny from the courts."

   The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 23.

   http://www.njlawjournal.com/this-weeks-news/id=1202773534830/Court-Urged-to-Weigh-Financiers-Roles-When-Picking-Lead-Counsel-in-Talc-MDL-?mcode=1202617207189&curindex=1&slreturn=20161101021853
   

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