Juliet Gray thought she was using safe products — until a mesothelioma diagnosis revealed the deadly legacy of asbestos in everyday makeup.
Helen Santoro reports for The Lever.
In short:
- Whittaker, Clark & Daniels, a former talc supplier for major cosmetic brands, is accused of exposing consumers to asbestos-laced products and now faces over 1,000 lawsuits from people with mesothelioma and other illnesses.
- Though owned by a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary with access to massive assets, the company filed for bankruptcy using the “Texas Two-Step” strategy to avoid financial responsibility for victims’ claims.
- The resulting $535 million proposed settlement excludes victim input, and if approved, could set a precedent for financially strong companies to sidestep tort accountability.
Key quote:
“What we have here is… [Whittaker, Clark, & Daniels] and its insurance company parent getting together and deciding amongst themselves how much they should pay their tort victims. That’s extraordinary.”
— Matthew Kutcher, a partner at Cooley law firm who represented talc claimants
Why this matters:
This case has all the makings of a corporate thriller — except the stakes are painfully real, and the damage is measured in lives cut short. It’s tied to the massive financial engine of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. And yet it’s pulling the “Texas Two-Step” — a bankruptcy maneuver that lets companies dump liabilities into a shell firm while shielding their assets. If courts allow this legal tactic, victims of environmental and product-related illness could lose one of their few remaining paths to justice.
