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Administrator's Corner
Last Updated: 11/02/2004 @ 1:34 PM
Dear Claimants and Counsel: As you know, November 29, 2004 marks the
end of the Opt-Out period. If you are remaining in the Settlement
Option, you do not need to do anything. However, if you intend to
litigate your claim, you must submit the Participation Form by
November 29, 2004. If you are hand-delivering the Participation Form
to the Settlement Facility office, you must do so by 6:00 pm CST on
November 29. As we move closer to the Opt-Out deadline, we expect to
see increases in our volumes of calls and forms, so please bear with
us during this busy time. Since we continue to receive about 4,000
calls a week, if you leave a voice mail or send an electronic email,
it is taking Claims Assistance approximately 10 business days to
respond to your queries.
Please keep the following information in mind.
As a reminder, if you were a participant in the Removal Assistance
Program (RAP) you must submit an Explant Claim Form in order to be
reviewed for Explant benefits.
We have had some requests for Increased Severity reviews, however, per
SFA, Section 7.01(c)(iv), these payments will not be made until after
all Allowed and allowable Claims have been paid, including those
settled under the Litigation Facility Agreement. For those of you who
are in Class 7 (Silicone Materials Claimants), under Annex A, Section
6.04(h)(iii) no distributions of Disease Claims will be made from the
Silicone Materials Claimants Fund until each timely Silicone Material
Claim is reviewed and evaluated under the Settlement Option selected
and the one-year deadline to cure deficiencies, if any, has expired.
Therefore you will not receive a payment for your claim in this
calendar year. For those of you who have a claim in Class 9, 10.1 or
10.2 (Other Products), under Annex A, Section 6.03(i)(ii) the
Settlement Facility must review and evaluate all timely Other Products
claims before distributing Medical Condition Payments to Other Product
Claimants. Therefore, claimants will not receive a payment from the
Other Products Fund in this calendar year.
Also, claimants are reviewed for settlement benefits in the order that
their claims were received. To be reviewed for settlement benefits,
you must have submitted a valid Waiver of Opt-Out form or a valid
Participation Form in which you selected the Settlement Option. Weve
noticed that some of you have submitted a valid Participation Form,
but have not yet filed a Proof of Manufacturer form. Please understand
that, you must also submit acceptable proof of at least one Dow
Corning implant (depending on the benefit option for which you are
applying). Once you have met these requirements, your claim for
settlement benefits will be reviewed in the order in which it was
received. If you are just now submitting your claim forms, you will be
in line among the more than 100,000 other claimants who have submitted
claim forms over the past year. Hopefully this information will prove
helpful in answering your questions concerning the status of your
claim.
For those of you who are unable to attend one of the information
sessions, we have posted the Claimant Information Session presentation
on our website. It is available for viewing in the Downloads section
of the website. Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation
as we move through this busy time.
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www.BreastImplantAwareness.org
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