After winning an $18 million verdict in an unusual asbestos case, a Dallas attorney hammered out a settlement with cosmetic talc supplier Whittaker Clark & Daniels recently—a move that kept the defendant from facing the potential of even greater damages from a California state jury.
The case was filed by Philip Depoian, a Los Angeles political figure and longtime aide to former mayor Tom Bradley. Following a six-week trial in LA Superior Court, a jury agreed with Depoian’s arguments that his mesothelioma cancer was linked to asbestos in Whittaker Clark & Daniels talc on Oct. 19. The jury found that the company was 30 percent liable for Depoian’s damages as he had sued several other defendants in his lawsuit.
