Doctor's Family Awarded $20 Million Over Fatal Talc-Linked Mesothelioma

Dr. Alberto A. Casaretto, Sr. immigrated from Argentina in 1969 and practiced medicine as a nephrologist in the Fort Lauderdale area for decades and led Florida's first kidney transplant team. Evidence at trial showed he applied Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder liberally after showering, every day, for 49 years, from 1969 until 2018. On October 30, 2017, he was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure. He had never worked as a mechanic, cut floor tile or repaired brakes, and no other source of asbestos contact was documented. When his lawyers had one of his bottles of Baby Powder tested, it came back positive for asbestos.

Casaretto and his wife, Irene, sued Johnson & Johnson in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court in Broward County in December 2018, alleging the company's talc was contaminated with asbestos and that the contamination caused his cancer. He died of the disease in 2022 at the age of 79. His son, Alberto Casaretto Jr., took the case forward on behalf of the family as a wrongful death claim.

The case was tried in Fort Lauderdale before Broward Circuit Judge Martin J. Bidwill, opening on September 24, 2025 and running until the jury returned its verdict on October 28. John Uustal of Kelley | Uustal and Christopher Tisi of Levin Papantonio represented the family. They argued Johnson & Johnson had known for decades that its talc could carry asbestos, used testing methods unlikely to detect it, and never switched to cornstarch as a safer and readily available substitute. 'There is no known safe level of asbestos,' Uustal told the jury. 'It's an easy conclusion that, if there's no known safe level, you have to use the most sensitive test.' The jury also heard that in 2019 the FDA tested two bottles of Johnson's Baby Powder and detected asbestos in one of them.

Scott Richman of Nelson Mullins, for Johnson & Johnson, argued the company's talc never contained asbestos. 'When you look at the body of the evidence, when you look at all the testing, when you look at all the science, it makes very clear that the products do not contain asbestos,' he told the jury.

On October 28, 2025, the jury found Johnson & Johnson liable on design defect and manufacturing defect claims for Casaretto's fatal mesothelioma and returned a verdict of $20,000,000 in compensatory damages.

Johnson & Johnson said it would appeal. 'This decision is predicated on junk science that is refuted by decades of studies that demonstrate Johnson's Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer,' the company said in a statement. As of this writing, no appellate ruling has been reported, and there is no public record of the verdict being paid, reduced or reversed.