TOLEDO, Ohio — Eight people have sued M.C. Tank Transport and its parent company, The Kenan Advantage Group, over the October 20 chemical release in North Toledo, in a lawsuit announced November 3 by the law firms Nurenberg, Paris, Heller & McCarthy and Groth & Associates in a release carried by PR Newswire.
The complaint, filed as case CI2026-04646, alleges the companies failed to follow proper safety procedures while transferring the chemical glycidyl methacrylate, known as GMA, and that heat applied during the transfer set off a chemical reaction that released GMA into the air for nearly 48 hours, according to the PR Newswire release.
The release began at about 9:30 p.m. on October 20 at the terminal at 1266 Progress Avenue, according to filings in the related cases, and involved a tank of roughly 5,500 gallons. GMA is an industrial monomer used in plastics, paints, coatings and adhesives, and the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency classifies it as a probable human carcinogen, the firms said in the PR Newswire release.
People closest to the release have reported intense skin and eye irritation, nausea, vomiting, headaches and sore throats, the firms said. “For nearly two days, a chemical poured into the air over North Toledo,” attorney Molly Ebraheim said in the PR Newswire release. “Families at home, workers on the job, and travelers just passing through all breathed it in.”
The November 3 filing is one of several lawsuits the release has produced. A proposed class action led by Bryson PLLC and DannLaw was filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on October 27, and a federal proposed class action led by Dubin Law PLLC followed on October 28 on behalf of residents within 15 miles of the facility in Ohio and Michigan, according to those firms’ announcements. No class has been certified in any of the cases, and the allegations have not been decided by any court.
Separately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended its air monitoring on October 26 after results did not exceed screening levels for GMA or other monitored hazards, and Ohio EPA took over cleanup oversight on October 27, PCI Magazine reported. The Associated Press reported that 57 people received hospital treatment after the release and that Toledo’s mayor attributed it to employee error, PCI Magazine reported.
What happens next: the cases will move through Lucas County Common Pleas Court and federal court, where judges will decide the class-action requests and the companies will answer the complaints. M.C. Tank Transport and Kenan have not announced a response to the November 3 lawsuit in the firms’ release.