Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, plans to offer an out-of-court settlement to a deceased employee's parents, who sued the firm claiming their son's suicide was caused by overwork, according to lawyers for the parents.
Dentsu representatives and the parents of Ichiro Oshima, 24, who killed himself in 1991, negotiated a possible compromise following a Tokyo High Court's recommendation in May to settle out of court, the lawyers said.
The Dentsu officials, who have rejected any liability for Oshima's death, told the parents the firm plans to pay compensation based on a 1996 ruling by the Tokyo District Court that said the giant ad agency was completely at fault and ordered it to pay 120 million yen in damages.