Kolker
BELLEVILLE – St. Clair County jurors, the first to decide an ovarian cancer trial against Johnson & Johnson since Canada issued an assessment of the topic, apparently found it too weak to support claims of decedent Betty Driscoll of Smithton.
They rendered a defense verdict after Johnson & Johnson counsel Allison Brown closed her argument last week by calling the assessment “very low quality.”
Brown told jurors that plaintiff expert witness Ellen Smith, author of a report Canada quoted, relied on lawyers to prepare it rather than do her own research.
Smith told jurors that Johnson & Johnson talc powder causes ovarian cancer, but Canada’s report didn’t come close to such a declaration.