The controversial medical sterilization firm Sterigenics and its parent company agreed this week to settle several lawsuits over its plant near Atlanta for $35 million.
Sterigenics faces hundreds of claims in the Atlanta area alleging people were exposed to ethylene oxide gas, which the Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a known cancer-causing agent. The plant, located near Smyrna, is authorized to use the gas to sterilize medical equipment but has been under fire in Atlanta since 2018 when a federal report flagged the area surrounding the plant for increased cancer risks.
Details of the settlement, first reported by Law360, were submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week. The company denies any liability, and the 79 plaintiffs included must agree to dismiss the case with prejudice.
One of the lawsuits was set to begin early next week in the State Court of Gwinnett County, but was put on hold due to the settlement agreement reached this week.
In a statement addressed to investors, the company denies “that emissions from Sterigenics’ Atlanta facility have ever posed any safety hazard to the surrounding communities.”
The plaintiff’s attorney Cale Conley declined to comment while the settlement agreement is still pending but confirmed that the terms of the settlement released publicly by Sterigenics are correct.
Sterigenics’ attorney Clay Massey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sterigenics has been the center of multiple legal battles with Cobb County and residents over the plant’s emissions. The company sued county officials for devaluing 5,000 properties within a 2-mile radius of the plant in 2020, and homeowners sued Sterigenics for their property value decrease.
County spokesman Ross Cavitt said Sterigenics has withdrawn its suit against Cobb regarding the property devaluation. While the county is not engaged in any ongoing lawsuits, officials are re-evaluating their options for regulating the facility after a federal judge this year allowed the plant to reopen while paving the way for the county to assert requirements for a new permit under other conditions, Cavitt said.
Jeff Gewirtz, an attorney representing Cobb County homeowners and warehouse workers in several other suits against Sterigenics, said this settlement only encompasses a portion of the ongoing exposure cases. Roughly 400 claims in Cobb related to the ethylene oxide exposure are still pending and will advance prior to the cases involving property devaluations.
Sterigenics’ statement says it “intends to vigorously defend its remaining ethylene oxide cases.”
In Illinois, Sterigenics and parent company Sotera Health Company agreed to distribute $408 million to as many as 870 people to settle lawsuits in January of this year, The Chicago Tribune first reported.
Our Reporting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has covered concerns over Sterigenics’ emissions since 2019, following a federal report that found an elevated risk of cancer in the area around the facility. Our reporting on an unreported toxic gas leak triggered an emergency investigation by the state and more rigorous reporting of leaks. Since then, a series of lawsuits have focused on whether the plant was appropriately regulated and the potential impacts to residents.
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