backKing & Spalding defeated a motion to dismiss for Johnson & Johnson subsidiary LLT Management, LLC.
LLT brought a trade libel claim regarding false statements made in an article about talcum powder written by frequent plaintiffs’ experts in cosmetic talc litigation. The Court concluded that LLT plausibly alleged that the article’s authors “knowingly misled the public about the safety of cosmetic talc products, but that the defendants’ real goal was to create a body of scientific literature to appease the plaintiffs’ bar, who hired the defendants as expert witnesses in tort cases against LLT.” LLT is pursuing a similar claim in the Third Circuit against another plaintiff's expert who wrote an article premised on false factual statements.
The King & Spalding team included Kristen Fournier, Matthew Bush, Cason Hewgley, and Paige Tenkhoff.