Andrew May, Jill Berkeley and Paul Walker-Bright, attorneys in NGE’s Litigation and Insurance Policyholder practice groups, achieved a key victory on August 3, 2022 for client Sterigenics U.S. in a lawsuit seeking insurance coverage for hundreds of lawsuits by plaintiffs alleging they suffered personal injuries due to ethylene oxide exposure at a sterilization facility now owned by Sterigenics. The main issue in the case was whether Sterigenics was owed a duty to defend under insurance policies issued to Sterigenics’ predecessor nearly 40 years ago. In a 29-page written ruling, Judge Mary M. Rowland of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted Sterigenics’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, holding that Sterigenics qualified as a “named insured” under those policies and that the pollution exclusion relied on by Sterigenics’ insurance carrier, National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, P.A., did not apply.    

The NGE group worked in conjunction with Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP.

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