CLAIMANTS'
ADVISORY COMMITTEE E-NEWSLETTER
Volume
6, No. 14, December 16, 2009
Contact the CAC at: info@tortcomm.org
or
phone: (419) 394-0717
fax: (419) 394-1748
Sybil Niden Goldrich
Ernest Hornsby, Esq
Dianna Pendleton-Dominguez, Esq.
This is the 68th e-newsletter
(Vol. 6, No. 14) from the Claimants' Advisory Committee (CAC) in the Dow
Corning bankruptcy Settlement Plan.
You were sent a copy of the newsletter because our records show that you
requested to be on the mailing list.
If you wish to unsubscribe, click here or to reply to this newsletter, send an email to: info@tortcomm.org. Please do not hit "Reply" to this
email address. Please use the
email address: info@tortcomm.org.
Requests for copies of claim forms or inquiries about
the status of a claim should be directed to the Settlement Facility at info@sfdct.com or 866-874-6099. The Claimants' Advisory Committee does not
have access to individual claimant files to answer these kinds of questions.
1.
STATUS OF APPEALS REGARDING TISSUE
EXPANDERS AND DISABILITY "A"
Tissue
Expanders – This issue is
now fully briefed and pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th
Circuit. A copy of all briefs are
available on the CAC website at www.tortcomm.org.
We anticipate a date for oral argument in the first half of 2010.
Disability A -
Dow Corning filed its appellate brief and the CAC has filed its
Response. Both briefs are
available on the CAC website at www.tortcomm.org.
Dow Corning's Reply Brief is due by December 28, 2009. We will post a copy on our website when
it is filed. We also anticipate a
date for oral argument in the first half of 2010.
2. REMINDER: MDL 926 CLAIMS OFFICE UPDATE
This is a reminder to
all women who have or had a breast implant made by Baxter (Heyer-Schulte,
American Hospital Supply, etc.), Bristol (MEC, Natural Y, Surgitek, etc.)
and/or 3M (3M, McGhan Medical) that the MDL 926 Claims Office will stop
accepting claims for the Revised Settlement Program ("RSP") on December 15,
2010. The RSP is a 15 year
settlement that began in December 1995 and will end in December 2010.
For more information
about the RSP, contact the MDL 926 Claims Office at the toll free number: 1-800-600-0311 and/or visit their
website at www.claimsoffice-926.com.
The closure of the RSP will
not affect claims in the Dow Corning Settlement. The Dow Corning Settlement has a
separate claims office and deadlines. The Dow Corning Settlement will continue accepting Explant
Claims to June 2, 2014 and will accept Disease Claims to June 3, 2019.
3. SETTLEMENT
FACILITY – DOW CORNING TRUST UPDATES
A.
Update on Disease
Processing Status – We are informed that the SF-DCT is current in
processing new Disease Option 1 claims in
Classes 5 and 6 (Dow Corning Breast Implant Claimants). They are processing Requests for
Re-Review (RAI's) submitted as of August 2009. The SF-DCT is processing Disease Option 2 claims submitted
as of February 2009, and is processing RAI's submitted as of September 2009.
B.
SF-DCT Issues New List of
Acceptable Affirmative Statements – The SF-DCT has updated its list of
physicians who used Dow Corning breast implants exclusively. This list is on the CAC website under
"Product Identication" issues. If
your physician's name is on this list and you have documentation showing you
were implanted during the years listed on the chart, then you may have
acceptable proof of a Dow Corning implant. For more information, contact the SF-DCT at info@tortcomm.org.
C.
The SF-DCT will send
letters to approximately 60,000 claimants (and their attorney of record) who
have been approved for either a Rupture and/or Disease Claim to verify that
they have a current, valid address.
It is very important to keep your address and contact information
updated with the SF-DCT so that important letters, payments and updates can be
sent to you.
D.
SF-DCT Policy – If
you receive a Disease Notification of Status letter that has a deficiency for
one disease / disability but approves a lower paying disease/disabilty, you
must either fix the deficiency by the 1-year cure deadline or the SF-DCT will
automatically issue payment to you for the lower disease / disability level at
which you were approved. If your
disease/disability claim is not approved at any level and you do not cure the
deficiency by the cure deadline set out in your Notification of Status letter,
you may accept the $2,000 Expedited Release Payment (which closes out your
claim permanently) or apply for a "new
compensable condition that manifests after the conclusion of the one-year cure period." See Annex A a Section 7.09(b)(ii).
E.
Class 7 – The
majority of eligible Class 7 claimants have been paid either the Expedited
Release Payment of $600 or the $3,000 Disease Cash-Out Offer. Because of the processing delays for
Class 7, the SF-DCT will be sending out letters offering the $3,000 Disease
Cash-Out Offer to those claimants who had previously rejected it. Class 7 also has an open issue about
what constitutes "marshaling" for purposes of eligibility for payment from
Class 7. This issue remains
pending.
4. UPDATE ON PREMIUM PAYMENTS
We know many of you are
anxious to receive a "Premium Payment."
(Premium Payments are available only to approved Disease claimants and
approved Rupture claimants.) We
are continuing our efforts with the Finance Committee urging them to recommend
that these payments be made and then for the District Court to approve
them. The issue is still under
discussion with the Finance Committee. We are working with them and the Independent Assessor
to analyze the existing claims, project future claims, and to ensure that
sufficient funds are available to pay all claims. The Plan requires that this analysis be done quarterly as
well as annually. As soon as we know
anything more, we will update our website and newsletter.
5.
SETTLEMENT FACILITY PAYMENTS TO CLAIMANTS
– $1.150 BILLION
The SF-DCT issued $4.5
million in payments for approved claims during November 2009. The largest category of payments was
for Disease claims for Class 5 claimants.
Since the Effective Date of the Plan on June 1, 2004, the SF-DCT has
paid out $1.15 billion in approved claims. Specific details about the types of claims and amounts paid
can be found on the CAC website at www.tortcomm.org at "Claims Data."
6.
DEADINE
REMINDERS
Please mark your calendar with the following claim submission deadlines. Please note that these deadlines mean that your claim forms and materials must be received by the SF-DCT by the posted deadline. Please mail all forms early enough so that they are received by the deadline listed below. If your claim form is not received by the deadline listed below, you will not be permitted to file a claim later. The filing deadlines are not the same as "cure deadlines." Cure deadlines are individual deadlines that are set out in Notification of Status letters following the SF-DCT's review of your claim.
|
Deadline Date |
Type of Deadline |
|
June 2, 2014 |
Explant
Claims submission deadline for timely filed claimants in Classes 5, 6.1 and
6.2 (NOTE: this deadline does NOT apply to NOI
claimants or Late Claimants) |
|
June 3, 2019 |
Disease or
Expedited Release Claim submission
deadline for all claims in Classes 5, 6.1 and 6.2 (this deadline does NOT
apply to Late Claimants) |
_______________________________________________________________________
If you would like to read
prior CAC e-newsletters, they are available on the CAC website by clicking on
"Electronic Newsletter." We
urge you to visit the CAC website (www.tortcomm.org)
on a regular basis to download or view relevant documents and read updates and
new information. To contact the
CAC, send an email to: info@tortcomm.org or send a letter to the
Post Office Box address for the CAC at:
Claimants' Advisory Committee
P.O.
Box 665
St.
Marys, Ohio 45885
Phone
Number: (419) 394-0717
Fax
Number: (419) 394-1748
Email: info@tortcomm.org
NOTICE: This document is copyrighted. You are not authorized to post it on
any website without express, prior written permission of the Claimants'
Advisory Committee.