AIG unit must pay more than $91.5 million in defense costs

An American International Group Inc. unit must pay two companies more than $91.5 million in legal costs in connection with lawsuits filed alleging injuries related to sterilization facilities located in a residential community.

Tuesday’s ruling by the U.S. District Court in Chicago follows an August, 2022 ruling by the court in which it held that AIG unit National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh must defend the two companies, Alsip, Illinois-based Griffith Foods International Inc. and Oak Brook, Illinois-based Sterigenics U.S. LLC, according to the latest ruling in Sterigenics U.S. LLC v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, and Griffith Foods International Inc. et al. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. Of Pittsburgh, PA.

In the underlying litigation, residents of Willowbrook, Illinois, sued the two companies contending they had suffered injuries from the companies’ operation of sterilization facilities, which exposed them to ethylene oxide discharges.

In ruling on Sterigenics’ motion for past defense costs, the court said the company “submitted sworn declarations and supporting documentation sufficient for the presumption of reasonableness to apply.”

In granting in large part Griffith’s motion, the court said that although National Union objected to certain of Griffith’s costs, it was not obligated to scrutinize line-item entries.

Sterigenics’ parent company, Cleveland-based Sotera Health Co., agreed in January to pay $408 million to settle the more than 870 cases pending against it in state and federal courts, while denying any liability.

Attorneys in the insurance coverage case had no comment or did not respond to requests for comment.