Products Liability Law Reporter

Janice Paluzzi, a mother of seven children and a grandmother of 10, was a lifelong user of Johnson’s Baby Powder, Shower to Shower, and other talc products, which she used on herself and her children. Now 84, she has been diagnosed as having mesothelioma.

She sued Johnson & Johnson, among others, alleging negligence and breach of the implied warranty of merchantability relative to the product’s design defect. The plaintiff claimed that Johnson & Johnson had internal knowledge there was asbestos in its talc supply dating back decades but continued to market its products as safe for daily use. Moreover, the plaintiff asserted, the defendant did so despite the availability of safer cornstarch-based powders.

The jury awarded $8 million for pain and suffering.

Citation: Paluzzi v. Johnson & Johnson/Pecos River Talc LLC, No. 21CV2109 (Mass. Super. Ct. Middlesex Cnty. June 18, 2025).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Benjamin Braly, Jessica Dean, Trey Branham, and Aaron Chapman, and Amy Carter, all of Dallas; AAJ member Anthony Bianco, Pittsburgh; and AAJ members Brian Kenney, Christopher Meisenkothen, Kyle Navin, and Dana Simoni, all of New Haven, Conn.