Opening statements begin in Sterigenics trial
CHICAGO (CBS) – The first of more than 700 plaintiffs finally got her day in court against Sterigenics, the former Willowbrook company that emitted a cancer-causing toxin into the surrounding community for decades.
CBS 2's Megan Hickey was there for opening statements focused around one big question: whether Sue Kamuda's exposure to ethylene oxide was the cause of her severe breast cancer. She lived just 1,800 feet from the plant for more than 20 years before her diagnosis.
Kamuda filed into court this morning with an army of attorneys. She was one of the first to file a lawsuit against Sterigenics, a medical device sterilization company that was located in Willowbrook until it was shut down by the Illinois EPA in 2019.
Sterigenics uses a known carcinogen called ethylene oxide, or EO, to sterilize medical equipment.
Kamuda's attorneys said she moved to her Willowbrook home, less than a third of a mile from the plant, in 1985, the same year the company started operations. In 2007, despite having no family history and no BRCA gene, she received a diagnosis of an aggressive form of breast cancer.
During opening statements, her attorneys said that during the trial, experts will prove EO was one of the causes.
They also argued that the company was aware of the dangers and had the ability to control the pollution as early as 1982, but didn't take the expensive but necessary precautions until it was too late for Willowbrook residents, many of whom suspect their cancers were caused by their exposure.
On the defense side, there are three corporate defendents, Griffith Laboratories, the original parent company, Sterigenics, and Sotera Health, which purchased Sterigenics in 2004.
A lawyer for Sterigencs and Sotera said that during the trial, they will prove that EO is not to blame for Kamuda's breast cancer and that experts and studies will show that she wasn't exposed to enough of the toxic gas.
They plan to bring in former employees at the plant to testify.
As for Griffith Labs (now known as Griffith foods), a lawyer argued they are not liable for any damage that EO may have caused to residents because it became an independent subsidiary in 1984 before the plant even opened and was sold off in 1999.
Kamuda's attorneys also said they will prove Sterigenics misrepresented how much EO was being released into the air in their reports to the government.
Sterigenics attorneys repeatedly said they were on the cutting edge of technology and always in compliance with their permits.