A jury has awarded nearly $9 million collectively to 24 Carson residents who were exposed to toxic hydrogen sulfide gas for several months in the fall of 2021.
The residents contended that they were sickened by the rotten egg smell of the gas, which can cause headaches, nausea and breathing difficulties. On Friday, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury, after a longrunning trial, awarded the plaintiffs $2.87 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages against property manager Prologis and property owner Liberty Property LP.
“The suffering of the Carson community was denied and downplayed for far too long,” plaintiffs’ attorney Kelly W. Weil said. “This months-long trial exposed defendants’ brazen and reckless creation of one of the largest environmental disasters in the history of Los Angeles.”
The companies denied responsibility for causing the odor and contended that the smell was an unforeseeable result of their conduct. They also maintained that the plaintiffs were not injured and were not entitled to damages.
Trial testimony showed that the gas formed after a massive hand sanitizer fire at a Prologis warehouse in Carson. The sanitizer was stockpiled outside the warehouse for more than six months by the warehouse tenants, Day to Day Imports, Inc. and Virgin Scent Inc.
The sanitizer was piled high on pallets, sometimes 10 or 15 feet high, over approximately two acres of yard outside the warehouse property throughout the hot summer months, testimony showed. Numerous citations had been issued by fire department officials prior to the fire, according to testimony.
The chemical fire burned so hot that it took two days and 200 firefighters to extinguish. The chemicals, along with millions of gallons of firefighting water, entered the storm drain and ultimately the Dominguez Channel, which flows through Carson. The chemicals also formed hydrogen sulfide gas in the channel that dispersed throughout the community wherever the wind blew, testimony showed.
Trial began in November in front of Judge David S. Cunningham III and lasted 50 days. Over 80 witnesses testified, including the trial plaintiffs, firefighters, county Flood Control personnel and many experts in wide ranging fields of science and medicine.