Ill. Court Reverses Contempt Order Issued Against J&J Exec During Talcum Powder Trial

MT. VERNON, Ill. –– An Illinois appellate court has reversed a finding of criminal contempt entered against Johnson & Johnson and its executive Susan Nicholson, M.D., during a talcum powder trial, concluding that the trial court had not only mischaracterized the type of contempt, but also “failed to offer the due process procedural safeguards required for a finding of indirect contempt.”

In the May 18 order, the Illinois Appellate Court, Fifth District, opined that the trial court “inferred and presumed the falsity of the defendants’ claims made on Monday from circumstances that transpired on Friday.”

“This was error as a …