New York Court Reverses $120 Million Asbestos Cosmetic Talc Judgment, Cites Lack of Sufficient Evidence

NEW YORK –– A New York appellate court has reversed a $120 million judgment entered in an asbestos cosmetic talcum powder case, concluding that the “plaintiffs’ medical expert never set forth a scientific expression of minimum lifetime exposure to asbestos that would have been sufficient to cause mesothelioma, the disease in question.”

In a July 19 order, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, concluded that “the medical expert’s testimony that mesothelioma could have resulted from ‘a significant exposure above normal background levels’ was insufficient.”

“At trial, plaintiffs failed, as a matter of law, to carry their burden …