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Colgate-Palmolive Talc Case

Settlement Reached in Colgate-Palmolive Talc Case

Several Los Angeles area news outlets report that a settlement has been reached between a Whittier, California man and the Colgate-Palmolive Company in a case where alleged asbestos fibers in the company’s talcum products caused the victim to develop mesothelioma cancer.

Settlement Reached in Colgate-Palmolive Talc CaseMy News LA reports that Paul M. Garcia maintained in his suit, which was filed about 16 months ago, that his cancer was caused by the use of Mennen baby powder, which has been manufactured by the company for several decades.

Garcia’s suit stated that Colgate knew for years that the talc in the powder contained a certain amount of asbestos but failed to alleviate the problem OR to inform the consumer of the presence of asbestos in its powder.

The case was ready to go to court and the last few days have been spent with both sides working together to choose what they deemed to be a suitable jury.

However, a settlement was announced yesterday just after the lunch break. No specifics as to the settlement amount were divulged to the public.

Just like Johnson & Johnson, which has been named in hundreds of asbestos-related lawsuits, Colgate-Palmolive has always maintained that their talc was/is safe and never contained asbestos.

They also insist that there is no hard, scientific proof that links such casual exposure to mesothelioma.

“There is no evidence of any intentional act by Mennen to include asbestos in its product…,” the Colgate-Palmolive attorneys stated in their court papers.

But Garcia’s lawyers disagreed. They say his asbestos exposure resulted from his mother’s occasional use of Mennen Baby Powder on his genitals during diaper changes from his birth in June 1951 until he was toilet-trained in 1953, My LA News explains.

But the attorneys at Colgate-Palmolive say Garcia, who has the peritoneal type of mesothelioma, could have been exposed during his work at Continental Can or when he served as a probation officer for the Pasadena Superior Court, where there was a known asbestos problem.

In all probability, it may have been a combination of all three that resulted in Garcia’s disease.