A List Of 27 Insurers In Implant Suit
By Mark E. Ruquet
NU Online News Service, Aug. 27, 2:22 p.m. EDT ? The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that 27 insurers should pay an estimated $250 million to 3M over breast implant claims.
The St. Paul, Minn.-based manufacturing company said the ruling concludes eight years of litigation stemming from a class-action suit brought in the 1990s against the makers of breast implants.
Stephen Sanchez, a spokesman for 3M, said the company has paid out $1.2 billion in total liabilities and has so far received $860 million from insurers.
He said the matter probably would go back to the lower courts to work out the mechanics of carrying out the decision.
According to court documents, 3M was a manufacturer of silicon gel breast implants from 1977 to 1985, when it sold its McGhan Medical Corp. plant.
More than 27,000 claims against 3M have been settled with less than 100 remaining.
The suit also involved Baxter, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Union Carbide. Dow Chemical, one of the companies sued in the class action over implants, declared bankruptcy in the process. The two sides eventually reached a $3.2 billion settlement in 1998.
The companies, according to court documents are:
? Old Republic Insurance Co.
? Employers Mutual Casualty Co.
? The Home Insurance Co.
? Utica Mutual Insurance Co.
? Mt. McKinley Insurance Co.
? Everest Reinsurance Co.
? Columbia Casualty Co.
? The Continental Insurance Co.
? Harbor Insurance Co.
? Century Indemnity Co.
? ACE Europe
? Ace Insurance SA-NV
? United States Fire Insurance Co.
? Federal Insurance Co.
? Westport Insurance Corp.
? TIG Insurance Co.
? Interstate Fire & Casualty Co.
? Chicago Insurance Co.
? Lakeside Insurance, Ltd.
? Seaside Insurance, Ltd.
? First State Insurance Co.
? Twin City Fire Insurance Co.
? Executive Risk Indemnity Inc.
? Victoria Versicherung AG
? Swiss Reinsurance Co.
? European General Insurance Co.
? Republic Western Insurance Co.
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