GRABAR LAW OFFICE INVESTIGATES CLAIMS ON BEHALF OF SHAREHOLDERS OF SOTERA HEALTH COMPANY (NASDAQ: SHC)
Grabar Law Office is investigating potential claims on behalf of Sotera Health Company (NASDAQ: SHC) shareholders. The investigation concerns whether certain officers of Sotera have breached their fiduciary duties owed to the company.
Sotera Health Company provides sterilization and lab testing and advisory services to the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. Through its Sterigenics brand, Sotera provides sterilization services for the medical device and pharmaceutical markets. The Company uses Ethylene Oxide (“EtO”) processing as one of three methods to sterilize products. EtO processing is a gas sterilization process in which pallets of packaged goods are loaded into a chamber that is then injected with EtO gas to penetrate the packaging. That process emits toxic fumes which must be filtered before being released into the air. Sotera, through its Sterigenics business, conducts or has conducted EtO processing at facilities throughout the United States, including Illinois, California, Georgia, and New Mexico, among other places.
A class action complaint has been filed against Sotera Health. The complaint alleges that the Company made numerous materially false and misleading representations concerning its emissions control systems and exposure to liability from lawsuits for the Company's failure to limit harmful Ethylene Oxide ("EtO") emissions. The Company, via certain of its officers, represented that it had "a proactive [environmental, health and safety] program and a culture of safety and quality." In addition, the Company stated that it employed adequate and effective safeguards to control EtO emissions. Moreover, the Company and its executives denied allegations that the Company's EtO emissions from its sterilization facilities caused cancer and other severe health issues in people living in the communities near those facilities. In truth, the Company and its senior executives knew, or at a minimum, recklessly disregarded, that for years the Company failed to employ effective emissions control systems to prevent the release of excessive amounts of toxic EtO gas from its sterilization facilities. Those deficiencies exposed people living in the surrounding communities to a significantly increased risk of cancer and subjected the Company to an increased risk of liability from hundreds of EtO-related lawsuits.
Current long-term Sotera shareholders who have held Sotera stock: (i) pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s initial public offering conducted on or around November 20, 2020 (the “IPO”) or (ii) pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s secondary public offering conducted on or around March 18, 2021 can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds spent defending litigation back to the company, and a court approved incentive award, at no cost to them.
If you would like to learn more about this matter, you are encouraged to contact us at jgrabar@grabarlaw.com, or call Joshua Grabar at 267-507-6085.