Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The Wall Street Journal - April 22, 1996
Thomas M. Burton, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Under the terms of the manufacturers' offer, the vast majority of hemophiliacs who contracted AIDS from clotting products would have to participate if the settlement is to become a reality.
"My feeling is the offer is too low," said Jonathan Wadleigh, one of the leading plaintiffs in cases brought over the issue. "There is considerable disappointment" in the hemophilia community over the proposal, he added.
Baxter International Inc., Bayer AG, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc. and the Alpha Therapeutic unit of Green Cross Corp. of Japan have proposed the conditional settlement as a means of resolving most U.S. litigation against them.
The manufacturers have said the proposal is a "final, firm offer" to resolve the litigation. They also imposed certain conditions. One is that 95% of all current plaintiffs would have to sign on to the deal. Another is that, if the offer becomes a class-action settlement approved by a judge, no more than 100 people could "opt out" of the settlement plan and pursue individual cases.
Harry M. Kraemer Jr., Baxter's chief financial officer, termed the settlement offer "something that is fair and that everyone can agree to."
Mr. Wadleigh, however, said manufacturers "are trying to believe that this is going to get them out of this whole mess. But I think it's a toss-up as to whether there would be more than 100 opt-outs."
David S. Shrager, a Philadelphia attorney representing people with hemophilia and a member of a lawyers steering committee in consolidated litigation over the issue, called the offer an "important opening step." But, he said, there's no way that 95% of the individual lawsuits will disappear, at least not by the May 20 deadline imposed by the manufacturers. He said he's skeptical of the aspect of the plan that would treat all plaintiffs equally -- regardless of whether they have legitimate lawsuit potential.
There are an estimated 600 lawsuits in the U.S. over AIDS contracted from clotting products. The products, known as Factor VIII and Factor IX, are made from the pooled blood plasma of thousands of donors, some of whom turned out to be infected with the AIDS virus. At issue is whether the manufacturers acted quickly enough during the 1980s to ensure that the clotting products were virally inactivated with a heat-treatment process.
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