CHICAGO MASS TORTS ATTORNEYS

Skilled advocacy from nationally recognized attorneys.

When a number of people are negatively affected by the same product, environmental hazard, medical device or medication, attorneys can file mass tort litigation. Cavanagh Sorich Law Group has successfully recovered damages in mass tort cases across the U.S. We prove that defective products or egregious practices have directly harmed our clients through no fault of their own.

PRODUCT LIABILITY

Food, automobile and medication recalls are increasingly common. Consumers expect companies to release safe products that have been thoroughly inspected and tested. When companies fail, consumers can suffer devastating injuries or even death. Personal injury attorneys win mass tort cases by proving products were defective and that they harmed many people. High-profile recalls have included Takata airbags, blood pressure medication revealed to contain possible carcinogens, romaine lettuce and Johnson & Johnson baby powder.

MEDICATION / MEDICAL DEVICES

Medical devices such as hip, knee or shoulder replacements have the ability to improve patients’ lives. But when a product is defective, people can suffer severe injuries that drastically limit motion, overall health and a patient’s quality of life. Some defects can even result in death. Personal injury attorneys use mass tort litigation to obtain damages for groups of clients whose lives were negatively impacted by the same faulty implants, mesh or medical devices. Prescription drug recalls have become increasingly common across the U.S. in recent years. Impurities linked to cancer were found in both over-the-counter heartburn medication and common blood pressure prescription drugs. When medication doesn’t meet standards, patients can suffer imbalances that lead to lasting physical and psychological trauma.

STERIGENICS

From 1984 to 2019, Sterigenics used ethylene oxide — a known carcinogen — to sterilize medical equipment at its 24-hour plant in Willowbrook, Ill. The public remained in the dark until 2018 when two federal reports revealed the extent of ethylene oxide (EtO) exposure caused by the southwest suburban facility. Tens of thousands of people who lived in Cook and DuPage counties had been exposed to dangerously high levels of an invisible, cancer-causing toxin for more than three decades.

Sterigenics never pursued safer alternatives to ethylene oxide or adequately studied or tested air quality. Though the plant was shut down in 2019 following public protests and intervention by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), people who lived or worked near the facility continue to suffer lasting health effects. Acute exposure to ethylene oxide can lead to vomiting, neurological disorders, bronchitis, pulmonary edema and emphysema. Chronic exposure can cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive and developmental impairments and damage to brain and nervous systems. READ MORE

ETHYLENE OXIDE

Though Sterigenics’ Willowbrook facility was shuttered in 2019, facilities across the U.S. continue to use ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen. In Illinois, Medline Industries uses the cancerous gas at its Waukegan plant, while Vantage Specialty Chemicals utilizes it in Gurnee. As public outcry against the use of ethylene oxide grows louder, it is likely that state and federal legislation will curtain emissions in the future. But people who live and work near many facilities are not guaranteed legislative action and cannot escape years — if not decades — of ethylene oxide exposure. Mass tort litigation has the potential not only to provide financial support to those who have suffered but also to push companies toward safer policies and practices.