CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Nick Rosinia delivering his opening statement
Golden, CO - A closely watched trial in Colorado state court over claims toxic gas emissions from a medical equipment plant caused a man’s cancer settled shortly before going into closing arguments, and the full trial to that point was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The parties notified the court shortly after the jury finished hearing testimony on February 18 that they’d reached a confidential settlement after delivering their opening statements in late January. Plaintiff Brad Schaak claimed exposure to ethylene oxide gas, or ETO, caused him to develop a rare form of cancer but defendant Terumo, a medical equipment company, argued any gas released was at too low a level to cause Schaak's illness.
The case is among the few ETO matters to go before a jury, and only the third webcast gavel-to-gavel by CVN. A trial last year in the same Jefferson County courtroom involving similar claims against Terumo ended in a defense verdict, and a trial in Georgia state court last year involving ETO gas use at CR Bard facility ended in a $20 million verdict.
Subscribers to CVN’s online trial video library get unlimited on-demand access to the full trial, along with the other ETO trials and hundreds more trials in a wide range of practice areas featuring many of the top plaintiff and defense attorneys practicing in the United States today.
During the trial Schaak’s attorneys explained how ETO gas is used to sterilize medical equipment that can’t be subjected to high temperatures. They emphasized that despite its alleged health risks, the gas is completely odorless, colorless, tasteless and has no immediately detectable physical effects on humans whatsoever.
They allege the Terumo plant lacked adequate exhaust filters and discharged ETO fumes into a surrounding residential area for years while comparing ETO cases to long-running mass torts like asbestos or tobacco litigation.
Schaak recovered after chemotherapy and is medically cured. While the parties didn’t get into specific damages amounts in closing arguments, one of Schaak’s attorneys did state during opening statements wasn’t seeking “tens of millions” in a future care plan, but rather hoped to hold Terumo accountable.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Nicholas Howell delivering his opening statement
Throughout the trial Terumo insisted that ETO gas is carcinogenic, but the company’s attorneys to other carcinogens people expose themselves to every day like ultraviolet light in sunshine and preservatives in bacon. They also argued dose amount matters, invoking the idea of one Tylenol pill being harmless but an entire bottle being potentially fatal.
Terumo maintained that the reason the exposure levels were supposedly so low was because they complied with industry and regulatory standards for the ventilation system at the facility in question.
The plaintiff was represented by a team from Edelson PC.
Terumo was represented by McFarland Litigation Partners and King & Spalding.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com