Daughter of Pennsboro woman sues baby powder manufacturer over Mom's death

The elder Underwood died March 21 at age 66, according to her obituary on the McCullough Raiguel Funeral Homes & Crematory website.

In addition to Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick, New Jersey, talc mining company Imerys Talc America Inc., formerly known as Luzenac America Inc. and of San Jose, California, was named as a defendant.

The lawsuit also names unknown businesses that it contends were involved in manufacturing, marketing, packaging, labeling and selling JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder.

The lawsuit demands a jury trial. It includes requests for compensation for medical expenses, pain and mental anguish and wrongful death. The filing also seeks punitive damages.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley in West Virginia’s Northern District.

Johnson & Johnson continued to manufacture and sell baby powder with talc in it, and Imerys Talc America continued to mine and market talc for that product, after decades of research that pointed to serious health hazards to humans, the lawsuit contends. That included a link to ovarian cancer, the lawsuit asserts.

In particular, JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder was marketed as a feminine hygiene product, the lawsuit contends.

And warnings that were eventually included weren’t enough, according to the lawsuit.

Underwood used JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder for feminine hygiene purposes from around 1965 until her death, “believing that practice to be safe,” the lawsuit asserts.

“Ms. Underwood’s use was intended and foreseeable, based on the advertising, marketing and labeling of the product by the defendants,” the lawsuit contends.

“Ms. Underwood developed ovarian cancer and suffered effects attendant thereto, including her premature death, as a direct and proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of talcum powder, and defendants’ wrongful and negligent conduct in the research, development, testing, manufacture, production, promotion, distribution, marketing, and sale of talcum powder,” the lawsuit asserted.

Darnold is represented by Morgantown attorneys John Hurst and Carmen Scott, and Pittsburgh lawyer Holly L. Deihl of Goldberg, Persky & White P.C.

Attempts to contact Darnold and her attorneys weren’t immediately successful.

Ernie Knewitz, vice president of global media relations for Johnson & Johnson, didn’t immediately return a phone message.

A phone message left with Imerys Talc America in San Jose also wasn’t immediately returned.

The lawsuit is the latest of multiple court actions against Johnson & Johnson over its baby powder.

On Oct. 28, USA Today’s Roger Yu reported that Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California, had been awarded $70 million after alleging JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder caused her ovarian cancer.

Yu’s article also pointed to two similar lawsuits in St. Louis in which jurors awarded a total of $127 million, as well as two other lawsuits thrown out by a judge in New Jersey.

Johnson & Johnson, in “A Message about Talc” on its website, contends that 30 years of “studies by medical experts around the world, science, research and clinical evidence continues to support the safety of cosmetic talc.”

“Concerns about the possible association between cosmetic talc with ovarian cancer increased after recent jury verdicts in the United States,” the message asserts. “It is natural for trial verdicts to raise questions about the product involved, and it’s also important to distinguish jury verdicts — in the United States — from regulatory rulings or rigorous scientific findings.

“Johnson & Johnson has always taken questions about the safety of our products extremely seriously, especially concerns about products like JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder that families have trusted for generations,” the message contends. “We continue to believe in the safety of JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder containing talc and we trust our consumers to make their own decisions — which are why we want to provide the scientific support for the safety of talc.”

Underwood’s obituary notes she grew up in Bergen, New Jersey, retired after 28 years working for the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department in Parkersburg, and was a member of the board of directors for the Ritchie County Humane Society. At the time of her death, she was survived by her husband of 32 years, Ronald Underwood; daughter Darnold; a son, Michael McNally of Circleville, Ohio; and stepddaughters, Melissa Criss of Bridgeport; Gina Fielding of Bartlett, Illinois; and Teresa Townsend of Parkersburg. Underwood also was survived by multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren.