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300+ residents sue Lineage over warehouse fire
More than 300 residents have sued Lineage Logistics, alleging the June 17 Boyle Heights warehouse fire exposed them to hazardous smoke, ash, ammonia and ongoing pest infestations.
LOS ANGELES - More than 300 residents of Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Commerce and Montebello have sued Lineage Logistics, accusing the cold storage company of wrecking their health and their homes in the six weeks since a fire tore through its Boyle Heights warehouse.
The 155-page complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court under case number 26STCV24120, asks a judge to hold Lineage financially responsible for the aftermath of the June 17 fire.
According to the lawsuit, the fire ruptured a line inside the cold storage facility, leaving residents "directly exposed to hazardous smoke, ash ... and ammonia."
The complaint alleges that after the flames were extinguished a week later, a new problem moved in: "infestations of flies, insects, rodents, and other vermin."
The suit also points to a smaller fire on the same rooftop two years earlier, which it says put Lineage on notice of a "recurring and foreseeable risk" of fire, a risk the company failed to prevent from happening again, according to the complaint.
Residents aren't the only ones criticizing the company's response. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass condemned Lineage Friday after it submitted plans to rebuild the warehouse.
"Lineage had the audacity to submit plans to rebuild their warehouse. This is a slap in the face of the families that are forced to suffer with the consequences of this corporate actions, or I should say inactions, every single day," Bass said.
Bass has since signed another emergency executive order barring city departments from processing Lineage's rebuild plans until fire investigators make their findings public.
Los Angeles County health inspectors have also ramped up enforcement, issuing six citations against Lineage since July 23 over the pest infestations and lingering odor. Fines have climbed to $2,000 a day.
Lineage has said its crews are working around the clock, hauling out debris and reporting to regulators daily.
The company has blamed a contractor testing solar panels on the roof for sparking the fire. That contractor, Altus Power, says no official cause has been determined. As of Aug. 2, neither company had commented on the lawsuit.
Lineage faces an Aug. 14 deadline — 45 days from the order Bass issued June 29 — to finish cleaning up the site. If the company misses it, the city can send its own contractors to complete the cleanup or demolish the building, bill Lineage for the cost plus a 40% surcharge, and place a lien on the property.
The fire destroyed an estimated 85 million pounds of food stored inside the warehouse. As of Friday, Lineage said on social media that crews had cleared more than 63% of it.