J&J Argues Combined Talc-Cancer Trial in St. Louis was Unfair

Johnson & Johnson argued a Missouri judge erred in combining two-dozen cancer claims by women who used the company’s baby powder into one trial that resulted in a $4.7 billion verdict.

• Judge Rex Burlison in St. Louis eliminated the company’s shot at a fair trial when he agreed to lump all 22 lawsuits into one case, Thomas Weaver, one of J&J’s lawyers, told a three-judge appellate panel Friday
• The judges said they’d rule later on the verdict -- the sixth-largest verdict in U.S. legal history
• “The prejudice of trying all these families’ claims together was inescapable,” Weaver argued ...