Five Defendants Trimmed from R.I. Talc Case for Lack of Jurisdiction

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island judge has dismissed five defendants for lack of personal jurisdiction from a lawsuit in which a woman alleges that she developed mesothelioma after using talc-containing cosmetic products for more than 50 years.

In the Feb. 20 order, however, Judge Alice Gibney of the Rhode Island Superior Court allowed the claims to proceed against one of the moving defendants and ordered jurisdictional discovery as to two others.

Beginning in 1966, Susan Soares used cosmetic products that contained asbestos-containing talc. She alleges that her inhalation of the talc for decades caused her to develop malignant pleural …