
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 23, 1994                   TAG: 9411230153
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                  LENGTH: Medium

SUPREME COURT ASKED TO SPEED IUD-CLAIMS CASE

Scores of victims of the Dalkon Shield, a defective intrauterine contraceptive device at the center of a 20-year legal battle, Tuesday sought the help of the U.S. Supreme Court in overcoming what they see as a frustrating 32-month delay in pursuing their claims.

The victims asked the Supreme Court to order a federal appeals court to rule on a crucial issue the lower court has had under advisement for nearly three years.

In seeking this rare remedy, attorneys for the victims argued, they are ``frustrated'' by the delay by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel has caused victims to make important choices without adequate information, they said.

``Indeed, this is the classic case where a court had failed persistently and obstinately to adjudicate a case properly before it,'' the attorneys wrote, asking the Supreme Court to issue a ``writ of mandamus'' to force the panel to act.

Attorneys rarely seek such writs because of the risk of angering the judges who ultimately will decide the underlying case. But the attorneys asserted in their petition that their previous attempts to get a ruling have been ``met with total silence'' from the court and that the 32-month delay since the appeal was argued ``is unconscionable by virtually any measure.''

In the underlying appeal, the victims argued that the Dalkon Shield Trust, established to pay victims under a $2.4 million settlement, had established ``harsh'' arbitration rules to force victims, who might want to arbitrate their claims, to either settle them or go to trial.

The trust fund came from the proceeds of the sale of A.H. Robins Co., which manufactured the Dalkon Shield, to a pharmaceutical company and grew out of a settlement with victims of the defective device.

The situation has become critical in recent months since the trust set new deadlines for women to make their choice or risk disallowance of their claims.

by CNB