Vegas woman happy to win another round in breast implant case

Monday, Feb. 15, 1999 | 11:26 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Charlotte Mahlum has won three court decisions but hasn't seen a penny of a $4.2 million judgment awarded her against Dow Chemical Corp. in a breast implant suit.

"They keep trying to fight me and hope I will die," Mahlum of Las Vegas said. "But I'm a fighter and I have fought for almost six years."

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled 4-0 Friday to reject the Dow Chemical's petition to reconsider its prior decision that awarded Mahlum money for the illnesses she has suffered since a breast implant ruptured.

John Musser, spokesman for Dow Chemical, said today that the company's attorneys are weighing appeal options.

"We certainly do not wish Ms. Mahlum or anyone ill will," Musser said from the company's Midland, Mich., headquarters. "No one disputes that some women with breast implants have become ill. However, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support that the implants were not the cause of their illnesses.

"We are seeking due process in the interest of our rights under the law."

If Mahlum eventually prevails after the appeals have been exhausted, Musser said the company will pay her and then will be allowed to seek reimbursement from the Dow Corning Corp., which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Dow was 50 percent shareholder in the Dow Corning Corp., which produced the implants. Corning Corp. owns the other 50 percent interest.

Geoffrey White, Reno lawyer for Mahlum, said a Dow Chemical lawyer relayed word the case would be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I don't think that will get far," White said. "They have the flimsiest of grounds."

Mahlum, a former waitress from Elko, won a $14 million judgment in October 1995 in District Court in Reno. The Nevada Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision in December, sliced $10 million in punitive damages from the judgment but let stand $4.2 million in damages.

Dow Chemical, in its petition for a rehearing, said the court overlooked or misunderstood the law and the facts of the case. It also wanted the three new members who joined the court in January to participate in the decision. The court ruled Dow Chemical's arguments were without merit. Bill Maupin and Miriam Shearing, the two justices who dissented in the initial judgment, joined in denying the motion for a rehearing.

"They would like for us all to die and go away," Mahlum said Saturday, referring to the thousands of women who have filed lawsuits over faulty breast implants. "They would like to sweep us under the rug."

Mahlum's health is deteriorating, she said. She lacks balance. Last week, she fell backward but was caught by a friend before she hit the floor. Last Friday, the day the court ruled, she said she woke up with another major headache. "I would have had to die to have felt better."

She receives $400 a month from the federal government and is on Medicare, she said. She borrows money from family and friends to get drugs that are not covered by the federal program, she said. She has said previously that once she gets the judgment, she will be able to purchase the expensive drugs that should help her.

Mahlum said she can't get insurance because of her condition. "Who would want to insure me? Nobody."

She praised the state Supreme Court for its quick action on the motion for rehearing. It took about one month. The decision in the original case took 20 months to decide.

Dow Chemical is involved in 14,000 breast implant lawsuits as a defendant, Musser said, noting that most of them have been consolidated into a case that is in the Michigan court system.

However, he said, there are two other cases that were under way before Dow Corning went into bankruptcy. One of them was Mahlum's case.

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Sun reporter Ed Koch contributed to this report.