In October 2016, plaintiff Tina Herford, 61, a retiree, was diagnosed with right-side pleural mesothelioma, which is an aggressive, incurable cancer that develops on the lining of the lungs and that often stems from exposure to asbestos. Herford claimed that her cancer was caused by non-specific asbestos from multiple cosmetic talc products, including Old Spice, Jovan Musk, Passion, White Diamonds, Intimate, Jean Nate, Shower to Shower, and Baby Powder from 1956 to 2010. Herford sued Johnson & Johnson, Imerys Talc America Inc., the manufacturers of several cosmetic talc products, and several other companies. Herford’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, but many of those cases were put on hold while awaiting a decision regarding an appellate case involving indirect exposure. Herford’s complaint ultimately proceeded to trial against Johnson & Johnson and Imerys only. Several of the other manufacturers of cosmetic talc products, as well as other defendants, such as AT&T Corp., were ultimately dismissed from the case or settled out. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that Johnson & Johnson and Imerys knew for years that their talc products contained asbestos, but that the companies withheld that knowledge from their consumers. Counsel also contended that the companies lobbied the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve testing methods that were not sensitive enough to detect the asbestos present in talc in order to escape liability. Counsel also presented company documents, which were allegedly consistent with the plaintiffs’ experts’ opinions that asbestos was present in Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder and other talc products. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel argued that Johnson & Johnson and Imerys were negligent for the defective manufacturing and design of their products and that Johnson & Johnson failed to warn about the presence of asbestos in its products. Counsel for Johnson &Johnson and Imerys contended that the products Herford used, like Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower, never contained asbestos and that Herford was inconsistent as to how long she used talc powder products. Specifically, defense counsel noted that a form Herford provided to a doctor stated that she only used talc products for six to eight years during her childhood, but that Herford later testified that she used talc powders on a daily basis for 35 years since 1956. Counsel also contended that there was no indication that talc miners ever developed mesothelioma from inhaling the mineral and that no epidemiological study ever showed a link between talc exposure and mesothelioma., Herford was diagnosed with mesothelioma in October 2016 and subsequently underwent many different treatments. She also underwent extensive surgery and is currently undergoing chemotherapy, but her mesothelioma is incurable and it will kill her. Thus, Herford sought recovery of past and future medical costs, and damages for her past and future pain and suffering. Her husband, Douglas Herford, presented a derivative claim seeing recovery for his loss of consortium. Plaintiffs’ counsel asked the jury to award the couple $24 million in total damages. Defense counsel contended that Ms. Herford’s mesothelioma was caused by radiation treatments that she previously underwent to treat breast cancer during the 1990s. The defense’s oncology expert opined that the radiation treatments Herford received to treat her breast cancer could have been the primary cause for the mesothelioma that later developed in the same part of Herford’s chest.