Taylor E. Kosko

Taylor is an associate in the Casualty Department at Marshall Dennehey, concentrating her practice in asbestos, mass, and toxic tort matters arising out of exposure to asbestos, silica, and benzine. In addition to her work in asbestos and toxic tort cases, Taylor also assists in the defense of general liability matters. These include product liability, premises liability, automobile accidents, and dram shop/liquor liability cases. She participates in all phases of litigation throughout Western Pennsylvania including pleadings, discovery, motions practice, and trial preparation. Prior to joining Marshall Dennehey, Taylor worked for a regional defense firm in Pittsburgh where she similarly practiced the defense of mass toxic tort matters.

In 2017, Taylor earned her juris doctor from Duquesne University School of Law. While in law school, she served as president of the Health Law Society from 2015-2017. She also studied international law in the nature of human rights, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution in Belfast and Dublin, Ireland, and worked at a law firm in Frankfurt, Germany after completing her first year of law school. Taylor held several internships throughout law school, and clerked at a boutique law firm during her final year where she handled plaintiff and defense work under the supervision of practicing attorneys.

Taylor graduated from Duquesne University in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts after completing her undergraduate coursework in just three years. During that time, she was a member of the Duquesne University Division I Varsity Women's Lacrosse team.

Taylor is admitted to practice law in the state of Pennsylvania.

Honors & Awards

•The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants (2026)
•The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants; Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants (2024-2026)
•Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Star (2024-2026)

Published Works

•'Appellate Court Reverses $224 Million Verdict Against Johnson & Johnson', Marshall Dennehey Legal Update for Environmental Law, October 2023

Thought Leadership

Legal Updates for Asbestos and Mass Tort Litigation

Appellate Court Reverses $224 Million Verdict Against Johnson & Johnson

October 5, 2023

On October 4, 2023, a panel of three judges in the New Jersey Appellate Division reversed a $224 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson, awarded to a consolidated group of four plaintiffs who alleged their use of the company’s talcum powder products caused them to be diagnosed with cancer. The jury awarded the plaintiffs an aggregate compensatory damages award of $37.3 million and a punitive damages award totaling $186.5 million. The basis of the reversal was that the trial court did not fulfill its role as a gatekeeper for permitting only reliable expert testimony to be presented to a jury by failing to conduct pre-trial hearings on the scientific methodology and the underlying data relied upon by the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses. In the opinion, the Appellate Division reinforced the proper role of the trial court as the gatekeeper of expert witness testimony. Further, the court instructed trial courts to assess both the methodology used by the expert to arrive at an opinion as well as the underlying data used in the formation of the opinion. Overall, the Appellate Division found that the trial court failed to hold an evidentiary hearing as to the expert testimony, failed to make legal determinations of reliability as to the methodology, and permitted the jury to make credibility determinations as to the quality of the expert testimony instead of first determining whether the expert opinion was based on sound and adequately founded scientific methodology. These errors, the Appellate Division believed, were so “wide off the mark that a manifest denial of justice resulted.”This monumental opinion raises the bar for the standard that plaintiffs must meet in pursuing claims of talc powder exposure against companies such as Johnson & Johnson. Further, it provides an avenue for talc defendants to challenge expert witnesses offering testimony for plaintiffs in a talc case. For obvious reasons, we can expect this opinion to have more of an impact in talc litigation than in asbestos claims, where the scientific methodology of expert witnesses has been studied extensively over its longstanding history. As we are seeing an increasing number of talc cases being filed, the reversal of this $224 million verdict is a useful roadmap for proper expert witness practice as well as a reassuring development for industry clients. Legal Update for Environmental Law - October 5, 2023, has been prepared for our readers by Marshall Dennehey. It is solely intended to provide information on recent legal developments and is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. We welcome the opportunity to provide such legal assistance as you require on this and other subjects. If you receive the alerts in error, please send a note to tamontemuro@mdwcg.com. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING pursuant to New York RPC 7.1. 2023 Marshall Dennehey Warner. All Rights Reserved.

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