Woman with mesothelioma claims she used Avon's asbestos-contaminated talcum powder

The California Court of Appeal disagreed with a lower court’s decision to admit documents submitted by a company’s vice president of global innovation, research, and development and to admit the employee’s testimony supposedly channeling those documents.

A married couple – the plaintiffs in the case of Ramirez v. Avon Products, Inc. – filed a complaint against Avon Products, Inc. and other entities. The wife, who developed mesothelioma, claimed that she was exposed to asbestos through using Avon’s asbestos-contaminated talcum powder and through other ways.

The wife alleged that she used Avon’s Imari and Elusive talcum powder daily from the mid-1970’s to 2007 and that her daughter used Avon’s Imari, Sweet Honesty, and Odyssey talcum powder in a bathroom that they shared from the 1990’s to 2007.

Avon filed a motion for summary judgment. It argued that there was no proof that the wife came into contact with an Avon product contaminated with asbestos. It relied on a declaration from its then vice president of global innovation, research, and development.

Avon designated the vice president as someone most knowledgeable for the purposes of certain categories of information. She worked in Avon’s research and development department starting in 1994, halfway through the wife’s alleged exposure period. She said that she made statements based on her investigation or her own personal knowledge.

The...

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