Wedinesday. May 29, 1974
THE MICHIGAN DAILY -
Pag Tre
SFri
Bu1mpers defeats Flbright
Supreme Court
restricts class
action suits
WASHINGTON (,P) - The Supreme
Court dealt a blow yesterday to the
ability of consumers, environmentalists
and others to put small claims for dam-
ages together into large class action
shits.
The court acted in a case brought
against stock brokers by a New York
shoe dealer for himself and other buyers
and sellers of small quantities of stock
on the New York Stock Exchange. The
jistices ruled that plaintiffs in such suits
mast pay the cost of notifying as many
as possible of those on whose behalf they
asie suing.
"THIS DECISION effectively sabo-
tages most consumer class actions,"
commented Mark Green of consumer
ads ucate Ralph Nader's Corporate Ac-
csuntability Group.
The class -action case had been in the
courts for eight years.
The plaintiff, Morton Eisen, contended
lie should be permitted to notify the
small-lot traders by some form of pub-
lication, since he estimated there were
six million of them.
U. S. DISTRICT Judge Harold Tyler
of New York worked out a system com-
hining this with notice to buyers involv-
ed in more than 10 transactions and to
5,000 traders selected at random.
The U. S. Circuit Court in New York
struck down this system along with a
ruling by Tyler that the brokers named
as defendants should pay 90 per cent of
the cost.
Eisen contended the so-called "odd
lot" traders. were overcharged around
$120 million in brokerage fees.
CLASS-ACTION suits for damages
have proliferat6d since the Supreme
Court and Congress adopted a rule in
1966 broadening the circumstances in
which they may be brought.
In yesterday's decision, the court said
this rule requires that "individual notice
must be sent to all class members whose
names and addresses may be ascer-
tained through reasonable effort."
In other actions yesterday, the court:
-Agreed, in a cane of wide interest in
the publishing and library fields, to rule
tow far libraries may go in giving out
photocopies of books and articles without
violating copyrights;
-Declined to review a state court-de-
cision striking down Louisiana obscenity
and public nuisance laws;'
-Declined to interfere in a decision
upholding a Washington state law requir
ing financial disclosures by public offic-
ials; and
-Agreed to review a court decision
allowing radio and television stations to
broadcast winning numbers in the New
Jersey lottery.
LITLE ROC'K 2 Arkansas (Glv.
Dale Bumpers, at rising star in llent-
cratic politics, wons nonination to the
US_ Senate Lit nIght, etdimgtthe 30-
year career of Sen. .1. W. l-'lbright, one
of the natiton's ftreigmn policy leadert
Filbright had hi-n chairmsan of the
Senate Foreign Rel:itittn, titimmutittee
since 1959 ad wa a leadiig critic of
the Vietnam war.
Bimittisers' niunilttaat is tatnt tatktni
to election in the predomitinately Iemo-
cratic state, although he will be opposed
by Reptblicat banker Joh} Harris Jones
in the general election Nov. S
WITH 1,036 of the state's 2,6118 pre-
cincts reporting, the unofficial tally show-
ed Bumpers with 118,428 votes, or 63
per cent, and ulithrightt with 62,118 or
37 per cent.
Bumpers was leading in almost ciry
citunty.
Fltbrighit, 69, tutu sitice residents he-
fore the election that he would "cheer-
fully accept" the verdict if voters chiose
to retire him.
BEFORE 19711, liumtpers had bie i tnly
a school board itember and, as the only
lawyer in town, city attorney of Charles-
ton, population 1,5(X).
With Fulbright's defeat, 74-year-tld
Sen. John Sparkman (D-Ala a co a'iut
tent supporter of President Nixon's mil-
itary budgets and foreign policy and a
backer of foreign aid since the TrumnaA1
administration, has first choice ii the
chairmanship of the Senate "'ireigtn Re
lations Committee. Sparkman is the
second-ranked Democrat on the icom
mittee.
But under a rule limiting senators to
one major chairmanship, iparkman
would have to give up the chairman-
ship of the Senate Banking, Housing
and Urban Affairs Committee. Fulbright
himself dropped the banking chair when
he took over foreign relations.
SPARKMAN HAS not ;nJicatedIl his
preference, but associates believe he
might take the Foreign Relations chair-
manship.
If Sparkman declines, the next rank-
ing Democrat on the committee is Mike
Mansfield of Montana, but to assume
the chairmanship Mansfield would have
to step down as Senate Majority Leader.
Explosion kills nine
A man cries over the banner-draped body of a fellow demonstrator after a time
bomb hidden in a plastic garbage bag exploded yesterday at an anti-Fascist
rally in Brescia, northern Italy. The blast killed at least nine persons and in-
jured dozens more.
No local threat posedby
IUD recall,. officials say
By BARBARA CORNELL
Inadequate packaging of 150,000 cop-
per intra-uterine devices (IUDs), which
recently caused the manufacturer of the
contraceptives to-recall them, apparently
poses no hazard to local women.
The copper IUDs, known as "Cu7s,"
were voluntarily recalled by Searle
Laboratories this month when several
doctors reported finding that some of
the packages were open on delivery -
Local gays protest Catholic
censure of N.Y. rights act
By DAVID STOLL nance there last week.
"If you got some women and children "I guess they want us to react or
out here," suggested a city policeman, something so they can get their pictures
"maybe we could arrest some of these in the paper," observed Father Law-
people for using obscene language in rence Grom, a priest serving at St. Fran-
their presence" - cis. But although some 20 male pa-
But the parishioners of St. Francis of _ rishioners gathered at Father Groin's
Assisi Catholic Church on E. Stadium request on the church steps above the
Blvd. never followed his suggestion, sidewalk where the demonstrators were
When they arrived for 10:30 a.m. and picketing, no confrontation ensued.
noon masses last Sunday morning, they Carrying signs, singing snatches of
found the front entrance of their church songs, and sometimes taunting people
picketed by approximately 20 gay men, arriving for mass, the demonstrators
some of them in drag. passed out leaflets to the few parishion-
ers who would take them. The leaflets
THE PICKETERS were protesting the asked that Catholics voice opposition to
Archdiocese of New York's role in de- the stand of their church against gay
feating a proposed human rights ordi- See GAYS, Page 9
and therefore unsterile.
THE POOR packaging was caused
by a malfunction of the packing ma-
chine, according to Searle spokesman
Bill Wicks. The machine has since been
fixed and Cu7s are still being manu-
factured.
Wicks claims that "even if the IUDs
were inserted, the risk of infection would
be remote."
Several city health facilities including
University Hospital, University Health
Service, and the Planned Parenthood
clinic say they do routine checks of IUD
packages, and as a result the chances
that an unsterile Cu7 has been inserted
are low.
THE CU7 was the first IUD ever to
be classified as a drug by the federal
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Other IUDs are considered mechanical
devices since they are made of plastic.
However, because the copper of the
Cu7 is its active contraceptive ingre-
dient, it is classified as a drug.
Distribution of the Cu7 began March
1, but by the third week in April, doc-
tors' began reporting that the package
seals were broken. Searle representa-
tives were sent to inspect the devices
and, discovering that some packages
were open, they began a recall on May
6.
Mary Carol Kelly of the FDA asserts,
"It is not a certainty that IUDs from the
unsealed packages have caused infec-
tion."
"ALL IUDs can cause symptoms, and
due to the newsness of the product, the
women who have the Cu7s have had
them for only a short while," Kelly
claims. "Bleeding and cramping are
normal" at this stage, she says.
Wicks says that many women choose
the Cu7 due to its small size, which re-
duces discomfort. "You could about cov-
er it with a postage stamp," he says.
The C't claims higher effectiveness
than any IUD currently on the market.
Since the CuP has an ingredient which
interacts with the body, it has been sub-
ject to much scrutiny. Searle worked on
the device for more than four years to
meet the FDA's standards. The Cu7 has
been used in Europe for two years, but
its long term effects are yet to be de-
termined.
KATHY BIERSACK, a coordinator for
the Free Peoples' Clinic in Ann Arbor,
cautions women to weigh the risks using
new forms of contraception, but as-
serts, "On the other hand, we do know
the risks of getting pregnant."
Kelly urges LIl women who are con-
cerned about the recall to contact their
doctors, but most local health authori-
ties say that the risk of infection is very
slight.
They recommend visits to the doctor
only if unusual symptoms are noticed.
Searle Laboratories Special Represen-
tative Kent Mason explains, "When you
buy a carton of milk, don't you check
to see if it is open?"