Mo. Court Denies J&J, Imerys Talc’s Post-Trial Motions in $70 Million Talcum Powder Verdict

ST. LOUIS –– A Missouri state court has denied defendants’ post-trial motions contesting a $70 million talcum powder verdict, in part opining that the jury’s $67.5 million punitive damage award was “not grossly excessive nor arbitrary.”

In a March 15 order, Judge Rex M. Burlison of the Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court for St. Louis City denied all of the defendants’ post-trial efforts challenging the verdict, including motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, for a new trial, for remittiturs, and to reduce the “unconstitutionally excessive punitive damage award.”

In a March 13 order, the court acknowledged that it had taken …