(Bloomberg) -- Cosmed Group Inc., which provides pasteurization and sterilization services for agriculture and medical-device firms, said it filed bankruptcy to withstand hundreds of personal-injury lawsuits alleging gas emissions at its facilities caused cancer.
Company lawyer David Eastlake said during a Friday bankruptcy hearing in Texas that the costs of defending against a growing number of cases has become unsustainable. The company and a subsidiary sought court protection late Thursday, listing assets of at least $10 million and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million on its Chapter 11 petition.
Filing Chapter 11 pauses lawsuits and gives Cosmed time to try and resolve the litigation.
It’s alleged that individuals contracted various forms of cancer by inhaling ethylene oxide emitted from current or former Cosmed facilitates, Eastlake said. The US Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule earlier this year that cut emission limits for the gas, which can be discharged from commercial sterilization plants.
The EPA has said people living near Cosmed’s Erie, Pennsylvania facility were at higher risk of developing cancer. It also said the firm installed a wet scrubber and other controls to reduce ethylene oxide emissions there, reducing cancer risk around the plant.
Cosmed during Friday’s hearing also sought permission to continue paying its employees’ wages. That was approved by Judge Christopher Lopez.
The case is Cosmed Group Inc., number 24-90573, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
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