Defendants challenge class action certification.

AIDS: The National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) and the manufacturers of Anti-Hemophilia Factor Concentrates (AHF) are being sued in a class action case for ignoring and downplaying risks of HIV infection from AHF in order to enhance their financial gain. The defendants in the case, however, have challenged the class action certification. Their Petition for a Writ of Mandamus argues that a class action lawsuit is not an appropriate legal vehicle for this type of case because, among other reasons, it will place an entire industry's survival in the hands of a single jury decision. The two primary challenges to certification by the petition are that 1) it would complicate hemophilia/AIDS litigation and not simplify it, and 2) there is no common definition of negligence throughout state law. With certification in question, it is conceivable, according to attorney David Shrager, "that hundreds or even thousands of additional claims will now be filed in state and Federal courts throughout the country." Essentially, the defense against the Writ argues that the defendants knew in the 1960s of the high risk from known and new viruses in the plasma pools, that they had a duty to reduce such risk, and that they not only failed to withdraw their products from the market, they downplayed the harm done to persons who used contaminated AHF by making misleading statements. The class action trial is scheduled to begin October 2, 1995.^ieng

An open letter to the hemophilia community from the Community Advocacy Working Group.

AIDS: The Community Advocacy Working Group (CAWG) writes an open letter to the hemophiliac community, outlining the legislative efforts on behalf of the community since 1988, the current legislative campaign of the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF), and the creation of CAWG. CAWG was created to resolve differences between the NHF platform and the Community of Ten Thousand (COTT) platform to avoid contradictory efforts in Congress. The NHF has betrayed CAWG, and this betrayal has damaged their legislative efforts. CAWG suggests that the NHF has a hidden agenda: they want to give members of the community an incentive to oppose the class action lawsuit and any other AIDS litigation, a position held since 1985 when they began to help the fractionators in court. CAWG states that the clear loser of these cross-purpose platforms and hidden agendas would be families with hemophilia who are enduring HIV disease. CAWG requests that only materials produced or endorsed by CAWG be used by community members in their congressional visits.^ieng