Products Liability Law Reporter

A Florida appellate court held that the state lacked minimum contacts to justify personal jurisdiction over a company named in a cosmetic talc powder liability lawsuit.

John and Joanne Fleemin brought a products liability suit against various defendants, including Lornamead, Inc., alleging that Joanne had developed mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos from cosmetic talc powder use between 1978 and 2015. Lornamead, which had acquired the Yardley brand trademarks in the United States, moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Lornamead asserted that it had no operations facilities in Florida; had no officers or directors based there; did not own or lease any real property in the state; and has never manufactured Yardley Talcum Powder, one of the brands Joanne had used. Lornamead attached the affidavit of one of its executives, who stated that Lornamead had sold a total of six bottles of Yardley Talcum Powder to a U.S. Walgreens between 2005 and 2012 and did not distribute any Yardley Talcum Powder in the United States after 2012. The executive also stated that the company did not sell powder to Winn-Dixie or Eckerd’s, the places where Joanne had allegedly purchased the powder, in addition to possibly Walgreens.

The trial court denied the motion, finding that the facts of the lawsuit, as pleaded, were sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction.

Reversing, the appellate court considered the plaintiffs’ allegations that the defendant’s products had been sold in Florida and that the defendant had purposefully availed itself of Florida and invoked the benefits and protections of Florida law. The Lornamead executive’s affidavit contested these allegations, the court found, holding that the plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden once Lornamead presented evidence establishing a lack of minimum contacts. The court emphasized that according to the executive’s affidavit, only six bottles of Yardley powder were sold to Walgreens stores in the United States, and not specifically Florida, and that no Yardley powder had been sold to the other stores where Joanne had shopped. The court found that Joanne’s vague deposition testimony that she might have purchased some of the powder at Walgreens is insufficient to meet her burden to establish personal jurisdiction, the court said.

Moreover, the limited number of sales, if any, in Florida, do not establish minimum contacts. Citing case law, the court noted evidence that a defendant may have predicted its goods would reach a forum state does not demonstrate personal jurisdiction, nor does the fact that a defendant merely sold products that ended up in a state.

Consequently, the court ruled that because the plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden refuting the defendant’s evidence establishing a lack of minimum contacts, dismissal was warranted.

Citation: Lornamead, Inc. v. Fleemin, 2023 WL 3606073 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. May 24, 2023).