Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust

Litigation from injuries caused by the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device led to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding by the A.H. Robins Company. The resulting Chapter 11 reorganization plan established three trust funds to process claims for infertility, miscarriage, pelvic infections, or death and claims for contribution and subrogation.

The primary facility, the $2.23 billion Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust, was funded in 1989 with all liability for claims from the IUD channeled to that Trust for resolution in a claims process or through alternative dispute resolution, arbitration, or jury trial.

Orran Brown, Sr. was the Trust’s primary outside counsel advising the trustees and Trust management and counsel on the legal and managerial aspects of the Trust’s fiduciary duties, operations, and claims processing arrangements. Lynn Crowder Greer rose from manager of the Trust’s legal department, directing outside trial counsel and managing and coordinating the defense of arbitration and trial cases nationwide.

The Claimants Trust resolved more than 300,000 personal injury claims from 103 countries, paying over $3 billion in original and a series of four additional pro rata payments to claimants. Orran and Lynn dealt with every aspect of the operation of such a trust facility and its detailed claims process, reporting to the district and bankruptcy court on progress, and addressing challenges in the United States, Ireland, and Canada to the channeling injunction.

Lynn and Orran received approval from the courts to close the Trust in April 2000, nearly 10 years ahead of the originally contemplated schedule.