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Start Over Collection Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998

Sub-series 2: Resolved Cases Database Box 1-4, Box 5-8, Box 9-12, Box 13-16, Box 17-20, Box 21-24, Box 25-28

This series of 28 boxes (22.5 linear feet) is contains data derived from a sampling of cases A. H. Robins settled before bankruptcy proceedings began. In 1976 AHR created a Product Litigation System (PLS) to assist their lawyers in tracking Dalkon Shield claims and law suits. The master file in this database included the following information about a claim: claimant name; type of action; status of action; filing and resolution dates; insurance (Aetna) information; location of litigation; information about counsel; and resolution amounts.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series V:In re A. H. Robins; Case No. 85-01307-R

Sub-series 3: Estimation Hearing and Disclosure Statement

From November 5 to 11, 1987, Judges Merhige and Shelley held hearings at which the various interested parties presented their estimates of the dollar value of the outstanding claims. Each party had hired experts to examine the data McGovern had compiled, and the work of these experts was presented at the hearing. Thomas Florence conducted the analysis and prepared the estimation for AHR. Other estimates were presented on behalf of the claimants' committee, Aetna, the official committee representing AHR shareholders, and the unsecured creditors. One month later Judge Merhige, having reviewed the estimates which ranged from $1.2 to 7.2 billion, announced that AHR's liability to claimants was $2.475 billion.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series V:In re A. H. Robins; Case No. 85-01307-R

Sub-sub-series 1: MDL Chronological ("Chrono") subset of the Source Files Box 1-5, Box 6

The MDL Chrono Files are a chronological arrangement of 1300 of some of the more important documents from the Source Files and were offered in evidence during the1976-1978 MDL discovery proceedings. The date range of the Chrono Files is 1938 to 1977, with the bulk of the documents falling between 1971 and 1975. In some cases the copy in the Chrono Files is more legible than the one in the Source Files.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series I: A.H. Robins Company Documents
  4. Series 1 Sub-series 2: Source File Subsets

Sub-sub-series 1: MDL Depositions

In 1976 when Bradley Post, on behalf of plaintiffs' attorneys, was seeking Robins documents for multi-district litigation, dozens of top officials in the A. H. Robins Co. were being deposed. The following Robins employees were deponents: Ernest L. Bender, Jr., Dr. John I. Brewer, John Leo Burke, Dr. A.N. Chremos, Dr. Fred A. Clark, Jr., Robert E. Cohn, Elderin Wayne Crowder, Dr. Hugh J. Davis, Dr. Roy William Dent, Thomas D. Downs, Dr. Thad J. Earl, Dorothy Kimball Ervin, William A. Forrest, Jr., Daniel Eugene French, Jack Freund, Edwin Hood, A.J. Kapadia, Oscar Klioze, Irwin Lerner, Frank William Mann, A. Edwin Martin, David Mefford, Kenneth Moore, C.E. Morton, Dr. Robert S. Murphey, Dr. Fletcher B. Owen, Jr., Allen Polon, Dr. Ellen Preston, Dr. Lester W. Preston, E.C. Robins, Melvin Rohling, W. Roy Smith, Ritchie Alan Snyder, Robert Walker Tankersley, Howard James Tatum, Dale Taylor, George E. Thomas, Roger Lewis Tuttle, Richard A. Velz, John Wesley Ward, Thomas C. Yu, and William L. Zimmer III.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series II: A.H. Robins Litigation Documents
  4. Sub-series 1: AHR Employee Depositions and Testimony

Sub-sub-series 2: Bradley Post's Selected Subset of the Source Files

Bradley Post preserved a set of selected Robins Source File documents which he had submitted as evidence in a case around 1979. The Post documents are arranged chronologically and numbered 1 to 836 in the upper left corner; the Source File number is visible in the lower left corner. The date range is 1938 to 1979, with bulk dates of 1971 to 1975. The Post documents are available on microfilm reels 22 and 23. A list of numbered Post documents providing extensive information about each entry is available on paper and also precedes the documents on the film.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series I: A.H. Robins Company Documents
  4. Series 1 Sub-series 2: Source File Subsets

Sub-sub-series 2: Non-MDL Depositions

At the same time of the MDL discovery process, Robins officials were being deposed for cases not included in the multi-district litigation. The following Robins employees were deponents: Jerald Eugene Adams, Frank Bedrick, Ernest L. Bender, Jr., Dr. Anne J. W. Board, Eleanor Bradley, Bob L. Brown, Jeneal D. Brummett, John Leo Burke, John S. Campana, Edward C. Casey, Robert F. Childs, Dr. A.N. Chremos, Charles F. Christopher, Eugenia Clark, Dr. Fred A. Clark, Jr., Ben Clarkson, Robert E. Cohn, Everett L. Cook, Thomas E. Costa, Carlyne Crotty, Elderin Wayne Crowder, Arthur R. Cummings, Darwin Carl Dahl, Dr. Hugh J. Davis, Charles T. Degolia, Dr. Roy William Dent, Jr., Erich De Romero, Calvin R. De Witt, Charles S. Donahue, Paul M. Duffy, Jr., Hartwell Durrance, Thomas D. Downs, Dr. Thad Joseph Earl, John A. Emerick, Dorothy Kimball Ervin, Jeanne Featherston, William A. Forrest, Jr., Daniel Eugene French, Dr. Jack Freund, Anne Friedman, John E. Gallapago, John T. Gaywood, Michael Gibb, Frank W. Gilbert, Donald Thomas Gillooly, Robert L. Gorvett, Lawrence Griffin, John Vincent Guiney, Ray Hanchey, William D. Hart, Jr., Norval Haugh, Dennis F. Heikka, Dr. E.B. Heilman, Doral Loren Hessman, Douglas Arthur Hewey, Robert A. Hogsett, Thomas B. Horne, Robert F. Hunley, David E. Jones, Herbert Joyce, Jr., Duwaine F. Kaufman, James W. Kennedy, Sidney M. Kessler, Louis Kilgore, Daniel Klimpel II, Oscar Klioze, David Mayer Koepke, John P. Kypriotis, Leonard Clayton Lacy, John P. Lage, Raymond L. Langston, Patricia Lashley, Irwin S. Lerner, Charles Hunter Leys, George Lobeck, Gene Ross Lucas, and Carl D. Lunsford.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series II: A.H. Robins Litigation Documents
  4. Sub-series 1: AHR Employee Depositions and Testimony

Sub-sub-series 3: Robins, Zelle Selected Subset of the Source Files

In 1983 Robins, Zelle, Larson & Kaplan, a large firm in Minneapolis acquired about two hundred Dalkon Shield cases from another practice, and the firm appointed experienced plaintiffs' attorneys Dale Larson and Michael Ciresi to handle them. For the case of Shirley Dean v. A. H. Robins, the lawyers submitted as evidence 3,789 documents they had chosen from the Robins Source Files. Those documents comprise this subset and are arranged chronologically and numbered 1 to 3,789, usually near the top of the first page of the document; the Source File number is visible in the lower left corner. The dates range from 1938 to 1984, but are concentrated in the years 1970 to 1980. The Robins, Zelle documents are available on microfilm reels 23-31. The list of numbered Robins, Zelle documents provides extensive information about each entry; it is available on paper, and it also precedes the documents on the film.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series I: A.H. Robins Company Documents
  4. Series 1 Sub-series 2: Source File Subsets

Sub-sub-series 3: Trial Testimony

Bradley Post helped the Trust select a number of cases for which the AHR company employees' trial testimony was particularly useful, and these documents became part of the Document Depository. The collection of trial testimony, available on microfilm reels 82-139, was divided in two groups arranged alphabetically by plaintiff's name.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series II: A.H. Robins Litigation Documents
  4. Sub-series 1: AHR Employee Depositions and Testimony

Sub-sub-series 4: Depositions and Trial Testimony (videotape)

The Trust had a large collection of videotaped depositions (51 videotapes) and trial testimony (177 videotapes) of AHR employees. They transferred to the library all the tapes on VHS format. Many of these tapes, dating from 1979 to 1985, have corresponding transcripts in the previous three sub-series, but some do not.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust papers, 1938/2000, bulk 1970/1998
  3. Series II: A.H. Robins Litigation Documents
  4. Sub-series 1: AHR Employee Depositions and Testimony

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