Screenshot from a video featuring Dr. William Longo, a scientist with Materials Analytical Services, testifying Dec. 10 before the House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy during a hearing titled “Examining Carcinogens in Talc and the Best Methods for Asbestos Detection.”
In a Los Angeles trial over Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder, plaintiffs expert William Longo told jurors that his testing revealed 35% of the bottles with talc mined in China had asbestos in them.
Johnson & Johnson lawyer Kimberly Branscome objected, pointing out that Longo gave a different percentage in a deposition earlier this year: 43%. At first blush, that admission didn’t appear to help Johnson & Johnson’s case. But Branscome, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, was convinced this was no simple mistake, as Longo admitted, but a sign that attorney misconduct tainted the case.
