CHICAGO (October 24, 2022) – On October 21, 2022, Judge James Flannery, Presiding Judge of the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, granted a request to allow multiple Plaintiffs with cases pending against medical device sterilization plant Sterigenics to have their cases heard within a single jury trial. This process, known as consolidation, is part of the Court’s inherent authority to manage its own docket, as Judge Flannery noted during the hearing.
Per Judge Flannery’s comments on the record, the next two trials proceeding on or after May 2023 will be tried in groups of approximately four Plaintiffs per trial.
A hearing is scheduled for November 15 on the details of how the consolidated multi-plaintiff trials will proceed.
The ruling was covered by several Chicago-area media outlets, including: