Medical Device Maker Loses to Insurer on Ethylene Oxide Coverage

A pollution exclusion barred insurance coverage for litigation over emissions of a chemical used to sterilize medical devices, a federal appeals court said.

Suits against medical device maker B. Braun Medical Inc. over ethylene oxide emissions from an Allentown, Pa., facility also didn’t fall within a regulatory clearance exception to the pollution exclusion, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said in an unpublished opinion Tuesday, affirming a lower court order.

Ethylene oxide claims have led to a number of insurance disputes, including a case heard by Illinois’ top court in November, which focused on whether emissions explicitly ...