Practitioners' Note by Dawn M. Barrios
This Practitioners' Note provides a case study of Louisiana's breast implant class action, Spitzfaden v. Dow Corning Corp. The author describes the fascinating and tortuous journey through two removals to federal district court in Louisiana, two remands to state court, two unsuccessful challenges to certification in the Louisiana Supreme Court, numerous defense requests for appellate review and stays, a six-month trial, a transfer to a federal court in Michigan and its resulting abstention from the first two phases of trial, a mistrial and its reversal, Dow Corning's bankruptcy, decertification of the class, and ultimately the negotiation and bankruptcy court's confirmation of the joint plan of reorganization.
About the Author
Dawn M. Barrios. Partner, Barrios, Kingsdorf & Casteix, L.L.P., New Orleans, Louisiana. J.D. 1976, Tulane University School of Law. Ms. Barrios, a civil litigator, was appointed by the court as class counsel on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC) for Spitzfaden. She chaired the Dow Chemical subdivision's plaintiffs' committee and was lead Louisiana counsel on the plaintiffs' trial team against Dow Chemical.
Citation
74 Tul. L. Rev. 1941 (2000)