August 2020 - The Collins Law Firm has filed additional lawsuits against Sterigenics on behalf of 55 plaintiffs who believe their breast and blood cancers were caused by the company’s toxic emissions. These new cases are in addition to the lawsuits we filed earlier on behalf of 26 similarly affected plaintiffs. Highlighting the scope and seriousness of the problem, our firm and the other law firms representing the victims of Sterigenics’ ethylene oxide contamination, filed a total of more than 600 new lawsuits against the company responsible for emitting an airborne carcinogen into the community for decades.
The lawsuits, filed in Cook County, allege that Sterigenics’ ethylene oxide emissions caused the breast cancers, leukemias, lymphomas, and other blood cancers that have devastated or killed hundreds of innocent people in the Willowbrook area. They were filed on behalf of plaintiffs who lived or worked near the Sterigenics medical sterilization facility.
The lawsuits also include a new defendant, Griffith Foods, which operated the sterilization plant in the late 1980s and 1990s. According to the lawsuits, the food supplier also bears responsibility for the ethylene oxide emissions which sickened so many.
“We are firmly committed to securing justice for those whose lives have been forever changed by the egregious behavior of Sterigenics and the other defendants. Their sheer disregard for human lives is staggering, clearly and repeatedly choosing profits over people,” said Shawn Collins of The Collins Law Firm.
The Collins Law Firm is on the court-appointed Executive Committee for the legal group suing Sterigenics. That committee also includes Romanucci & Blandin, LLC; Salvi Schostock & Pritchard, P.C.; Miner Barnhill & Galland, P.C.; Smith LaCien, LLP; Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge, LLC; Clifford Law Offices; and Tomasik Kotin & Kasserman, LLC.
The Collins Law Firm and the other firms are determined to hold Sterigenics and Griffith Foods accountable for endangering the health and lives of the people of Willowbrook and the surrounding communities.
With the addition of these new cases, the total number of individual lawsuits pending against Sterigenics is now more than 700.
For more news coverage of the filings:
The Collins Law Firmis pleased to announce that four attorneys at the firm have been named to the Super Lawyers list this year. Attorneys Shawn Collins, Edward Manzke, and John Sopuch have been named as 2020 Super Lawyers, and attorney John Risvold has been named a 2020 Rising Star. Only 5% of lawyers in Illinois are recognized by Super Lawyers for their professional achievement. We congratulate our attorneys on this recognition of their dedication and hard work:
Shawn CollinsA graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago Law School, Shawn represents environmental and business clients in complex litigation throughout Illinois and the country. His environmental cases, brought on behalf of families and communities fighting corporate polluters, have set precedents and helped The Collins Law Firm become a nationally recognized environmental litigation firm. He has been on the "Super Lawyers" list eleven times.
Edward Manzkerepresents personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death clients all over Illinois. He earned both his bachelor's degree and his law degree from the University of Illinois. Since becoming a lawyer in 1992, Ed has won verdicts and settlements for his clients totaling over $100 million. Ed has been selected as a "Super Lawyer" fourteen times since 2006.
John Risvoldrepresents victims and families in Illinois in personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death cases. John earned his bachelor's degree and his law degree from the University of Missouri, graduating from the law school with the prestigious Order of Barristers. He has been a Super Lawyers Rising Star four times.
John Sopuch IIIA graduate of the University of Texas and Pepperdine Law School in California, John serves Of Counsel at The Collins Law Firm and represents clients in business litigation and commercial dispute resolution. He has been a Super Lawyer since 2018.
The Collins Law Firmis one of the nation's premier sources of legal representation for victims of negligent, reckless and malicious acts. Founder Shawn Collins has represented victims of groundwater contamination, air pollution and vapor intrusion, recovering more than $100 million for injured clients. The firm is known for its experience, resources and knowledge of complex scientific issues at the heart of environmental contamination cases, and through litigation forces polluters to clean up toxic environmental pollution, provide safe drinking water, prevent dangerous chemical vapors from invading homes and excavate contaminated soil.
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