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The widow of an Indiana man who died from mesothelioma will face pharmaceutical brand Johnson & Johnson and several other companies in court next week over allegations that the companies failed to warn consumers about cancer-causing asbestos in their products.
Jury proceedings for Timothy E. Dubois, Linda Dubois v. BMW Constructors, Inc., Brenntag North America, Inc., Brenntag Specialties, LLC et al, begin in Marion County on July 13.
In April 2024, plaintiff Timothy Dubois and his wife, Linda, filed a lawsuit in Marion Superior Court accusing 55 defendants of developing and fraudulently misrepresenting products containing the substance.
Two months prior, in February 2024, Timothy Dubois was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a terminal disease often attributed to exposure to asbestos or products containing asbestos. From approximately 1956 to 2024, Dubois was exposed to asbestos through his own personal use of certain products and the use of products by those around him, according to court documents.
Dubois died in November 2025, according to court documents.
“Inducted into the Indiana High School Football Hall of Fame, [Dubois] was an athlete and coach who used talcum powder for decades,” attorney Kathy Farinas with the Dallas-based Law Offices of DOBS & Farinas, told The Indiana Lawyer in an emailed statement. “He was around other coaches and student athletes who also used these products multiple times a day during the various sports seasons. As a result of breathing the asbestos in the talc, he suffered a painful and horrific death. His wife Linda was by his side and watched her once vibrant and energetic husband become a skeleton of a man unable to care for himself. Linda is asking for companies like Johnson & Johnson to be held accountable for the decades they knowingly sold talcum powders that contained asbestos and caused the avoidable death of her husband and others like him.”
Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
From 1968 to 2012, Dubois was a teacher at North Miami Community Schools in Denver, Indiana, where he also served as a coach for several sports. During his time working full-time for the school corporation, and in the subsequent eight years he spent as a consultant for athletic teams, Dubois said he was subject to daily asbestos exposure through products like Gold Bond Medicated Talc, Dr. Scholl’s Foot Powder and Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder.
Dubois was also exposed to asbestos fibers through construction work he did from the late 1950s up until approximately 1984, according to the lawsuit. He was further exposed to asbestos while working on automobile projects with his son in the 1980s and 1990s, court documents state.
The lawsuit divides defendants into three categories: the majority are identified as manufacturers, who developed, sold or distributed products containing asbestos, such as Johnson & Johnson, Bayer Healthcare LLC, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and The Procter & Gamble Company; contractors, who allegedly created airborne asbestos through the installation, removal or testing of areas where asbestos was located; and conspirators, who “conspired to misrepresent and hide” how dangerous asbestos is, according to court documents.
Since the lawsuit was filed, several companies have either been dismissed from the case or had their claims settled. In October 2024, a Marion County judge granted Goodyear’s motion for summary judgment based on lack of proximate cause.
In May 2025, the claims against Bayer Healthcare, which includes brands like Dr. Scholl’s LLC, were dismissed with prejudice by the parties.
Nineteen defendants will go to trial next week. The jury trial was originally scheduled for January 2026 but was granted a delay in November 2025 at the plaintiffs’ request.
Dubois’s case is one of several across the country that accuses companies of knowingly manufacturing and selling products containing asbestos. Last month, DOBS & Farinas won a $32 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in the case of a California woman who died from pleural mesothelioma in 2024 after years of exposure through products like baby powder.
In April, the Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed a ruling that Pabst Brewing Co. be held liable for asbestos exposure at its Milwaukee brewery after an employee who worked at the brewery in the 1970s died from mesothelioma.
DOBS won a $42 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in Massachusetts in July 2025 and a $25 million verdict against the company and other defendants in Connecticut in October 2024.
The case is Timothy E. Dubois, Linda Dubois v. BMW Constructors, Inc., Brenntag North America, Inc., Brenntag Specialties, LLC et al, 49D13-2404-CT-015028.
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