Sterigenics trial: $363 million verdict against company in first trial over emissions
Posted September 19, 2022 1:00 am
A Cook County jury on Monday ruled that Sterigenics and two other companies should pay $363 million in damages for exposing a woman and thousands of other Willowbrook residents to dangerous levels of cancer-causing ethylene oxide gas since the 1980s.
The jury reached its verdict after a five-week trial and one day of deliberations. The medical tool sterilization company Sterigenics was accused of releasing the toxic gas from its Willowbrook plant from 1985 to 2019, causing cancer in a woman who lived nearby.
The verdict exceeded the $346 million that lawyers for plaintiff Sue Kamuda asked for in closing arguments Thursday against Sterigenics, parent company Sotera Health and its corporate predecessor Griffith Foods.
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