United Press International (06/19/92)
Washington--The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the American Red Cross
has the immediate option to move a lawsuit by people who contracted HIV
via contaminated blood transfusions from state to federal court. A 5-4
vote determined that a congressional charter gives the Red Cross the
right to face any lawsuit in federal court, where it may be more likely
to prevail. The tests to screen HIV infected blood from donors were only
available to the Red Cross since 1985. Because the Red Cross is one of
the nation's largest suppliers of blood to hospitals, it has experienced
more than 40 lawsuits nationwide by people who were infected with HIV via
tainted blood transfusions. The Centers for Disease Control reported
4,205 transfusion-related AIDS cases as of Sept. 30 1991--the majority of
the cases are believed to have transpired from transfusions before 1985.
Among the more than 40 similar cases across the country, about half of
the district courts deciding the pretrial issues permitted the cases to
be contended in state court, while the other half felt that the Red Cross
has the right to demand a trial in federal court. Although the
distinction seems trivial, the Red Cross believes that federal judges are
better qualified than state judges to deal with such cases.