Mistrial declared in talcum powder suit

A St. Louis judge declared a mistrial Monday in a talcum powder trial underway in St. Louis Circuit Court after the U.S. Supreme Court imposed limits on where injury lawsuits may be filed.

The talcum powder cases were brought in other states and dismissed. In Missouri courts, however, these cases have been successful. Associated Industries of Missouri believes this is partly because Missouri lacked a higher standard for determining whether someone is truly an “expert” and other states did have such a standard.

We were successful in passing a bill this year to fix this problem in Missouri’s statutes and adopt the same standard used in federal courts and most other states to determine whether a person is an expert or not. Governor Greitens signed the bill into law, meaning Missouri will now observe the Daubert standard regarding the admissibility of expert witnesses’ testimony. The bill, HB 153, was signed into law by Governor Greitens on March 28, 2017, and will be effective August 28, 2017.

For more information on the mistrial, click here.