Ricardo Rimondi is one among many mesothelioma victims who are seeking compensation from Johnson & Johnson: he holds the company responsible because he believes they knew their popular baby powder was contaminated with asbestos and did nothing about it. This week a New Jersey jury listened to testimony from his family, speaking of the challenges of his illness and learning to live with the idea that the 58-year-old’s life will end soon.
Johnson & Johnson Suggests Peruvian Factories to Blame
Rimondi believes that his malignant mesothelioma is a direct result of the company not acting to keep its talc-based powder from being contaminated with asbestos, and not warning consumers of the risk that they faced by using the iconic product. Rimondi is originally from Peru, and though the company’s attorneys have attempted to deflect blame by suggesting that a factory in Peru was responsible for his asbestos exposure, his elderly aunt who helped to raise him in Lima testified that there were no factories near their home when they lived there, and that they had lived closer to the sea, in the town’s central district rather than near to where manufacturing plants had been located.
Family Describes Pain of Mesothelioma
Johnson & Johnson brought in expert witnesses to argue that cosmetic talc does not increase the risk of malignant mesothelioma. Despite this, multiple juries that have heard similar cases have found this testimony uncomplying, and have delivered billions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages against the company for causing both mesothelioma and ovarian cancer, with a $29.4 million verdict in favor of a mesothelioma victim delivered by a California jury this week. Rimondi’s case has been filed on behalf of him and his wife, citing the man’s pain and suffering and the loss being contemplated by his wife, his five sons, and the rest of his family. His 85-year-old aunt who helped raise him, and personally applied the baby powder on him when he was a child, described his ordeal, saying, “He suffers from tremendous pain. There is a swelling on his left side that doesn’t allow him to breathe because it puts a lot of pressure on his lung, and those of us who are around him can’t help him. It’s tremendous pain and we can’t do anything for him.”One of his sons explained, “We don’t do much anymore. We don’t talk or go for walks or car rides because he can barely function,” saying that physicians had told him to expect that his father will die within the year.
If you are a victim of malignant mesothelioma, it doesn’t matter whether it came from asbestos in your environment, a consumer product, or on-the-job exposure. The impact of the disease is devastating, and you need as much help as you can get. For information on resources available to you, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net at 1-800-692-8608.
