OTHER NEWS - Sept. 14, 1995

Judge Refuses to Shield Dow Parents: A federal judge refused to allow Dow Corning Corp.’s bankruptcy case to shield its parent companies from thousands of breast-implant lawsuits nationwide. U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood ruled that the cases against Dow Chemical Co. and Corning Corp.--co-owners of Dow Corning--can proceed despite Dow Corning’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. A Detroit attorney for about 300 Michigan women suing the companies over leaky breast implants called the ruling “a stunning defeat” for what he said was a Dow Chemical strategy to hide behind Dow Corning’s bankruptcy. “This is the best news for the breast implant women in months,” J. Douglas Peters said. Dow Chemical spokesman John Musser said that the company would appeal. He said it would be impossible to proceed with the cases without “crippling” Dow Corning’s reorganization effort. “It won’t provide the relief from litigation that is intended by Chapter 11,” Dow Corning spokesman T. Michael Jackson said.