A new class action lawsuit filed this week in Lucas County is the latest legal claim growing out of the October 20 chemical release at the MC Tank Transport terminal in north Toledo, as federal air monitoring has ended and Ohio regulators have taken over oversight of the cleanup.
The lawsuit, Keyes et al. v. M.C. Tank Transport, Inc., was announced October 27 by Bryson Harris Suciu and DeMay and DannLaw, the firms representing the plaintiffs. It names MC Tank and its parent company, The Kenan Advantage Group, as defendants in the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, according to the firms’ announcement.
The complaint alleges that about 5,500 gallons of glycidyl methacrylate, known as GMA, leaked from a compromised tank container at the terminal at 1266 Progress Avenue beginning at about 9:30 p.m. on October 20 and continuing for roughly 47 hours, the firms said. The release prompted a one-mile evacuation order affecting about 1,000 residents and a three-mile shelter-in-place order affecting more than 50,000 people, according to the complaint.
Lead plaintiff Heather Keyes lives in Toledo with her 13-year-old son, who has asthma, according to the firms’ announcement. She alleges she received no warning, that the plume entered her home, and that she and her son suffered raspy throats and headaches. Another plaintiff with COPD alleges she was forced to evacuate and was hospitalized with pneumonia, the announcement said. The complaint alleges about 57 people were treated at area hospitals.
“Residents of Toledo deserve better from their corporate neighbors,” DannLaw partner Marc Dann said in the firms’ announcement. “An entire community has been disrupted, elderly homeowners, including our clients, have ended up in the hospital, and everyone who lives in the impacted area deserves fair compensation.” The quote is from the DannLaw announcement of the filing.
The Keyes case is not the only one. A Toledo business owner, Todd M. Hartford, and his company Hartford’s Fencing & Landscaping filed an earlier suit seeking class-action status, according to reporting by 13abc and WTOL 11 summarized by The Fostoria Free Press, and Dubin Law has announced a separate federal class action covering residents in Ohio and Michigan. None of the cases has been decided, and no court has certified any of them as a class action.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended its air monitoring and sampling at 11 p.m. on October 26 after its data did not identify GMA or other hazardous chemicals above screening levels, according to the EPA’s incident page summarized by PCI Magazine, and the Ohio EPA took over oversight of the company’s cleanup on October 27. MC Tank has set up a claims line, 888-271-0577, for residents and businesses that believe they suffered losses, and said in an October 27 statement that all claims will be given serious consideration, according to the City of Toledo’s incident page.
What remains open: the official cause investigation is not finished — Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz attributed the release to an employee error during a liquid transfer, the Associated Press reported October 23, but the EPA said its enforcement team will work with the state to investigate — and the defendants have not yet answered the new complaints in court. Allegations in the lawsuits are claims by the plaintiffs, not findings by any court.
For Toledo residents, the practical questions are immediate ones that NewsForce247 has followed through the week in the city, from the evacuation orders to everyday disruptions such as the overnight crash near the Lucas County Jail. Attorneys in the earlier cases have advised residents to keep receipts and document expenses such as hotel stays, food and missed work, whether they pursue the company’s claims process or join a case.
What happens next is procedural but important: the defendants will respond to the complaints in Lucas County court, judges will decide whether any of the cases can proceed as class actions covering the evacuation and shelter-in-place zones, and Ohio EPA oversight of the cleanup at Progress Avenue continues in the meantime. Residents who believe they were affected can reach the company’s claims line at 888-271-0577 or the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department’s informational hotline.
Update — October 30, 1:05 a.m.: A third lawsuit seeking class-action status has been filed over the October 20 chemical release, The Blade reported Thursday. The new case, Thiede, et al. v. M.C. Tank Transport, Inc., et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against M.C. Tank Transport and its parent company, The Kenan Advantage Group, according to Dubin Law PLLC, the Ann Arbor firm that filed it. The firm says the suit seeks to represent people who owned, rented, occupied or lived in homes within 15 miles of the Progress Avenue terminal between October 20 and 23, with separate subclasses for Ohio and Michigan residents, and seeks damages including loss of use of property, evacuation and displacement costs, cleanup costs and lost wages. It joins the two proposed class actions already filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. The claims are allegations that have not been proven in court, and no class has been certified.
Photo: Limpfster94, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons