Parties Criticized in Implant Case

A bankruptcy judge Monday criticized both sides in the battle over breast implant claims for failing to reach a compromise.

Dow Corning Corp. wants the judge to approve its $3-billion worldwide settlement, but attorneys for women suing the company said it would cost closer to $3.8 billion to settle lawsuits.

“I think both sides get blinded,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Spector said during a hearing on the proposed settlement. “You don’t realize how close you really are” to reaching a settlement, he said.

The three-day hearing concluded for the day with attorneys on both sides expressing optimism that a settlement will be negotiated, possibly outside the courtroom, within a month.

Part of what Spector will decide this week is whether Dow Corning has the exclusive right to say how it plans to emerge from Bankruptcy Court protection. The hearing will continue today.

Dow Corning, co-owned by Corning Inc. and Dow Chemical Co., filed for Bankruptcy Court protection in 1995 under the weight of tens of thousands of claims from women who said their health was harmed by breast implants.

The deal must be approved by two-thirds of the women to take effect.

The plaintiffs argue that the company shouldn’t be the only participant to propose a settlement. They hope to offer a plan of their own to the 177,000 women worldwide with silicone breast implants.

The $3-billion offer, to be paid over 16 years, would be part of the Midland, Mich.-based company’s $4.4-billion plan to pay its debts and return to financial health.