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Dow Corning wants to settle
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December 2, 1996: 9:35 p.m. ET
Company offers to pay billions to settle breast implant cases
From Correspondent Allan Dodds Frank
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Dow Corning Monday made a new proposal to break the long log jam against litigation it faces over breast implants. If the plan is approved, the company will emerge from two years of bankruptcy.
The company -- which once held almost 30 percent of the silicone breast implant market -- filed for bankruptcy protection after the collapse of a so-called global settlement by the industry of billions of dollars in legal claims brought by women with breast implants who sued for medical damages.
Dow Corning's $3 billion proposal to emerge from bankruptcy represents the company's conviction that its silicone breast implants did not harm women's health.
Filed in a Michigan bankruptcy court, the company's latest proposal contains an unusual request -- it is asking for a single trial to determine conclusively whether silicone implants harmed women's health. The company wants only medical experts -- and not implant recipients -- to be allowed to testify.
"This whole proposal says let's put the science and this controversy in the center and decide once and for all: Is there enough evidence to say that implants cause disease or not? We clearly believe the evidence is overwhelming that implants don't cause disease," said Dow Corning spokesman Barie Carmichael.
The company filed for bankruptcy last year after a proposed settlement covering all implant manufacturers collapsed. The other companies involved -- 3M, Baxter International and Bristol Myers -- are now pursuing a massive settlement on their own.
Dow Corning's plan would pay creditors' claims in full, which would amount to about $1 billion. However, the claims would only be paid after litigation is over or a settlement is reached.
The hundreds of thousands of women suing over breast implants could either settle their claims immediately or wait for the outcome of the single trial.
Dow Corning would put up $600 million for the settlement fund and another $1.4 billion if it loses the special trial.
Ralph Knowles, co-chairman of the plaintiffs steering committee, said the women seeking damages want to settle, but will hold out until they are offered a reasonable amount. (179K WAV) or (179K AIFF)
Lawyers for the women say Dow Corning's proposal is a negotiating tactic to limit damages. They don't plan on going along with it and expect the overall national litigation against other implant companies to proceed before an Alabama federal judge.
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