Two dozen people who sued the owners and tenants of a Carson-based warehouse responsible for a putrid smell emanating from the Dominguez Channel waterway, which led to hospital visits and headaches, won a multimillion-dollar verdict Friday.
Those plaintiffs were awarded $6 million in punitive damages along with $2.89 million in compensatory damages in a mass tort lawsuit that dates back to 2021.
“Carson is a working-class community of janitors, barbers, bus drivers and longshoremen,” said attorney Gary Praglin of the Santa Monica-based law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy. “The defendants forced us to trial because they didn’t want to pay these people and this is recognition of their suffering.”
The punitive damages will be split equally among 24 Carson-area residents, amounting to $250,000 for each. The compensatory damages for medical claims ranged between $40,000 and $240,000 per client.
What remains to be seen is what happens to 13,750 additional plaintiffs who are also seeking compensation.
The court will determine the next steps, whether that’s additional trial proceedings or settlements. But should the remaining plaintiffs ultimately receive similar compensation, “we’re talking about the largest recovery for breathing toxic fumes in the history of California,” Praglin said.
On the hook for damages are San Francisco-based logistics company Prologis and its subsidiary Liberty Property LP, which owned the warehouse next to the Dominguez Channel in Carson. Prologis did not respond to an email seeking comment Friday.
Also included among the defendants are the Nourollah brothers of Los Angeles, who owned two businesses — Virgin Scent and Day to Day Imports — that operated out of that warehouse.
A call to an attorney for the Nourollahs was not immediately returned Friday.
The lawsuit is one of a few court cases against the same group of defendants, including one filed by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The roots of the legal action date back to Sept. 30, 2021, when a large fire engulfed the warehouse and distribution center of the cosmetics corporation Virgin Scent. The blaze lasted multiple days and required the services of 200 firefighters to extinguish.
The warehouse and surrounding storage areas were filled with stacks of pallets and cardboard boxes containing highly flammable ethanol-based hand sanitizer, according to court documents.
The fire took place days before the Food and Drug Administration released a warning that some Virgin Scent hand sanitizers contained unacceptable levels of benzene, acetal and acetaldehyde, each of which are hazardous and potentially carcinogenic.
Though the fire was eventually put out, large amounts of soggy, charred debris and hand sanitizer remained all around the warehouse, according to court documents.
That debris eventually found its way into storm drains that flow into the Dominguez Channel, which manages water runoff from surrounding communities.
These toxic elements sat in the channel’s then-stagnant water, which led to a die-off of all vegetation and the emission of foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide.
Residents began to complain of an “unbearable” stench that they said caused headaches, nausea, and eye, ear and nose irritation. The Carson City Council eventually declared a public health nuisance in October 2021.
Within a month, at least 3,000 residents left Carson for out-of-area hotels provided by Los Angeles County. Thousands of others opted for air purifiers.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District responded to more than 4,700 odor complaints within the first month from residents in Carson, Gardena, Long Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance and Wilmington.
The agency eventually issued five notices of violation to Virgin Scent for a variety of infractions, including for discharging “such quantities of air contaminants to cause injury, detriment, nuisance or annoyance to a considerable number of persons.”
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