IUD Maker Reportedly Target of Obstruction of Justice Probe

The Justice Department is conducting an investigation to determine whether the A. H. Robins Co. criminally obstructed justice in the course of defending itself against lawsuits brought by women who said they had been harmed by the Dalkon Shield intrauterine contraceptive device, sources said.

Several sources outside the government said that the investigation began last year under the supervision of Julian S. Greenspun, deputy chief for litigation in the Justice Department’s criminal division.

‘Get What They Deserve’

Greenspun, who recently left the Justice Department to join a Washington law firm, said in a phone interview: “I can’t comment, but, sooner or later, the people who were responsible for what happened to the women who were injured by the Dalkon Shield are going to get what they deserve. Let’s leave it at that.”

The Justice Department refused to comment, as did the official who reportedly is Greenspun’s successor in supervising the investigation, Guy L. Goodwin, special assistant for litigation in the criminal division.

John D. Taylor, Robins’ vice president for public affairs, when asked if the company knew of a Justice Department investigation, replied: “We’re not aware of it.”

The investigation is unrelated to a pending civil case in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., in which the government has asked Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. to hold Robins in contempt for spending about $7 million without court approval. The spending violated a consent order Robins signed in August after it filed for voluntary bankruptcy on the ground that the burden of the thousands of Dalkon Shield IUD claims made a financial reorganization essential.

The sources who described the investigation spoke only on condition that they not be named.

False Testimony Alleged

During the course of Dalkon Shield litigation, there have been several allegations that Robins provided false testimony or withheld information from plaintiffs. Robins has consistently denied the allegations, and it is not clear what role they might have in the investigation.

On Jan. 21, 1985, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami ruled that a Robins expert witness, Dr. Louis G. Keith, a Northwestern University professor of obstetrics and gynecology, gave “false testimony” at a 1983 trial in Tampa, Fla. Keith testified falsely with “complicity of counsel” for Robins, a three-judge panel ruled.