CHICAGO (December 20, 2022) – A Cook County judge has ruled in favor of Plaintiff Sue Kamuda on all post-trial motions filed in the first trial against Willowbrook medical device sterilization plant, Sterigenics. The ruling ensures the record $363 million verdict awarded by a Cook County jury in September will not be reversed or reduced prior to the appeal process.
On September 19, 2022, a Cook County jury awarded Plaintiff and cancer-survivor Sue Kamuda a total of $363 million in her case against Sterigenics. The verdict includes $38 million in compensatory damages and $325 million in punitive damages. Mrs. Kamuda was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and went through surgery and several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation to treat her illness. Mrs. Kamuda has no family history that would make her genetically predisposed to cancer and prior to her diagnosis, she enjoyed an active, healthy lifestyle. She is currently in remission. Mrs. Kamuda and her husband moved to Willowbrook in 1985, less than a year after Sterigenics began operations in the community.
Following trial, defense attorneys filed post-trial motions that sought either a defense judgment, a new trial, or a reduction in the jury’s $363 million verdict, the largest verdict ever awarded to an individual plaintiff in Illinois history. On December 19, 2022, Cook County Circuit Judge Marguerite Quinn denied post-trial motions and upheld the record-verdict. The case will proceed through the appellate court while statutory interest continues to accrue. As of December 19, 2022, the total judgment against Sterigenics and Sotera now exceeds $366 million with post-judgment interest. The remaining portion of the judgment is the responsibility of Griffith Foods, the co-defendant.
“We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling. We believe the rulings are consistent with the law and evidence,” Plaintiff’s attorney Patrick A. Salvi II said. “This jury was amazing and worked very hard over six long weeks – attentive, always punctual and willing to put in extra time whenever asked. This is, in part, a testament to them.”
As the case heads to the appellate court, however, lawyers for Sterigenics and Sotera have staked out differing positions as to the ability of the companies to pay judgments to Susan Kamuda and other victims whose cases will proceed to trial in groups into the future.
The Sterigenics Defendants recently submitted to the Cook County judge overseeing post-judgment collection proceedings a sworn affidavit of Sotera’s treasurer where it was represented under oath that Sotera and Sterigenics “have set aside specific assets which they believe far exceed double the judgment.” In a separate filing before a different judge, however, Sotera’s treasurer claimed that the ability of Sotera to secure a bond for any appeal is a complicated, time-consuming process involving a potential “syndicate” of potential stakeholders and that more time would be needed for that purpose.
Nowhere in any of the recent court filings has Sotera and Sterigenics revealed whether the “specific assets” Sotera’s treasurer claimed were “set aside” are already encumbered such that they are worthless to judgment creditors like Susan Kamuda and unlikely to assist in obtaining a bond for its appeal. Attorneys for Sotera and Sterigenics have, to date, refused to disclose this information.
The Willowbrook Sterigenics facility was permanently closed in the Fall of 2019. Since the plant’s closure, the state has enacted strict new EtO emission limits and Sterigenics has ceased seeking operations in Illinois. Sterigenics still operates several plants throughout the country.
Mrs. Kamuda was represented at trial by attorneys Patrick A. Salvi II, Lance D. Northcutt, and Jennifer M. Cascio of the Illinois law firm Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C.; Shawn Collins and Margaret Galka of The Collins Law Firm; and Scott A. Entin, Roisin Duffy-Gideon, and Deanna N. Pihos of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C.
For more information, please contact Marcie Mangan at (312) 372-1227 or mmangan@salvilaw.com.
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