Diethylstilbestrol (DES) claims

Distilbene is the French brand name of diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic estrogen given to pregnant women to prevent miscarriage. In France, about 200,000 women took it between the late 1940s and 1977, and some 160,000 children were exposed in utero. In the United States, a study published in 1971 linked the drug to a rare vaginal cancer in exposed daughters, and the FDA promptly advised against its use in pregnancy. France only added the contraindication in 1977. The injuries surface twenty or thirty years after exposure: cancers, malformations, infertility, premature births, and effects now being studied in grandchildren. For an underwriter, the case ticks every long-tail box. The triggering event dates from the 1950s to the 1970s, the claims from the 2000s, and the policies involved were written on an occurrence basis. The second problem is proof. A claimant rarely knows which laboratory made the pills their mother took forty years earlier. On September 24, 2009, the First Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation held that once exposure and the link between DES and the condition are established, each manufacturer must prove its product was not the cause. Trial courts apply the rule file by file, with no general presumption. California had answered differently back in 1980 with Sindell: liability apportioned by market share.