Nevada women who voted against Dow Corning plan may sue parent companies

Thursday, Dec. 23, 1999 | 9:50 a.m.

If upheld, the ruling could unravel the complicated deal aimed at ending years of legal battles over claims that silicone implants caused illnesses in hundreds of thousands of women around the world.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Spector ruled late Tuesday that any woman who voted against the settlement approved last month could sue Dow Corning's corporate parents, Dow Chemical Co. and Corning Corp., each of which owns half of Dow Corning.

The settlement barred further lawsuits against Dow Chemical and Corning Corp. over silicone implants. The clause is one of the keys to the settlement, part of a $4.5 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan for Dow Corning.

The clause is "fundamental to the plan," said Dow Corning spokesman Michael Jackson. "Without the release, there's no plan."

Dow Corning will appeal the opinion, Jackson said.

Spector said he lacked the power to grant a release to Dow Chemical and Corning, and that the plan didn't appear designed to grant such a release anyway. Jackson said Dow Corning disagreed on both points.

Spector's opinion also said women who voted to approve the settlement would be barred from suing the companies. It's unclear how many women his opinion might affect; 112,774 women voted on the plan earlier this year, with 94 percent approving.

Spector said there was no reason to assume allowing claims from women who voted no would create an undue burden on the companies. He said many such claims already have been filed.

The companies estimate claims have been filed by 170,000 women or people representing their estates.

The no-lawsuit release in the settlement had been fought by lawyers for a group of women in Nevada, where the state's supreme court has upheld damages against Dow Chemical over silicone breast implants, opening the door for similar lawsuits.

Geoffrey White, one of the lawyers representing the Nevada women, called Tuesday's ruling "a major victory."

Dow Corning, which no longer makes silicone breast implants, declared bankruptcy in 1995 after thousands of women sued over implants. Women have blamed leaking gel from the implants for lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, body aches, fatigue, memory loss and hardening of the breasts.

Under the proposed settlement, women who blame illnesses on Dow Corning silicone breast implants could get between $12,000 and $300,000 each. Women could also receive up to $25,000 for ruptured or leaking implants, and up to $5,000 for implant removal.