$91 Million Judgment Against AIG Unit

A unit of AIG must pay two companies, Griffith Foods International Inc. and Sterigenics U.S. LLC,  more than $91 million. That sum will go toward legal costs connected to defending lawsuits alleging injuries from sterilization facilities in Willowbrook, Illinois. The July ruling by the U.S. District Court in Chicago comes after a ruling one year ago that the AIG unit National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh must defend the two companies. Willowbrook Residents sued the companies, contending that the operation of sterilization facilities located there exposed them to ethylene oxide discharges. In 2018, the EPA published research showing people living near the plant got cancer at rates nine times the national average. The recent ruling said that Sterigenics’ motion for past defense costs was entitled to the presumption of reasonableness, based on “submitted sworn declarations and supporting documentation.” Sterigenics’ parent, Sotera Health Co., agreed to pay $408 million to settle the more than 870 cases pending against it in state and federal courts last January but denied liability.