The plaintiff was visibly uncomfortable. She wouldn’t look at the defense lawyer as he ran through his deposition questions: "How large were your breasts before the surgery?" "What size did you want them to be?" "Why did you want them to be that size?" The plaintiff shifted in her seat and avoided eye contact as she responded, her replies pierced with defensiveness. "It was awkward," says Marla Persky, the chief of litigation at Baxter Healthcare Corporation at the time, who was sitting at the defense counsel’s table.
It was 1991, and Baxter was in the early stages of defending against what would become a monsoon of lawsuits filed by women claiming that their leaky silicone breast implants had caused a slew of illnesses, such as chronic fatigue, headaches, arthritis, and skin diseases. The suits accused Baxter and other defendants of defective design and negligence.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
