In December 2017, plaintiff Willie McNeal Jr., a Vietnam War veteran and retired school bus driver in Los Angeles, was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, which is an aggressive, incurable cancer that develops on the lining of the lungs and that often stems from exposure to asbestos. McNeal previously used Old Spice Talcum Powder from 1958 to 1980. He claimed the talc contained asbestos that caused his cancer. McNeal sued the company that supplied raw talc for use in the Old Spice product, Whittaker Clark & Daniels Inc.; the manufacturer of the Old Spice product, Shulton Inc.; an auto brake company, Honeywell International Inc. (formally known as Allied-Signal Inc. and the successor-in-interest to Bendix Corp.); two tobacco companies, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Lorillard Tobacco Co.; and various other companies that were believed to have manufactured, distributed and/or worked with asbestos-containing products to which McNeal was allegedly exposed. McNeal brought claims of negligence, strict liability – manufacturing defect, design defect, and strict liability – failure to warn. McNeal’s complaint was coordinated with hundreds of other cases that were pending in different counties that shared common questions of fact or law regarding direct and indirect exposure, and involved many of the same defendants. The cases were joined in one court, the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Many of those cases were put on hold while awaiting a decision regarding an appellate case involving indirect exposure. Several of the defendants were either dismissed or settled out of the case, and McNeal’s complaint ultimately proceeded to trial against Whittaker Clark & Daniels. The plaintiff’s materials science expert testified that he tested various Old Spice talc products from archived product sets from the 1950s to the 1980s, and that he found asbestos fibers in all of them, including tremolite and chrysotile. Whittaker Clark & Daniels’ counsel denied that the subject Old Spice product caused or contributed to McNeal’s diagnosis., McNeal was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma in December 2017. He underwent a partial decortication surgery, but he was not a candidate for chemotherapy, radiation or further surgery. McNeal sought recovery of damages for his past and future pain and suffering.