GKN Aerospace, Garden Grove, California
LOS ANGELES — Class action lawsuits, as well as individual legal claims, are piling into federal and state courts in Los Angeles and Orange County from people and businesses who say local aerospace product maker GKN must pay after the threat of explosion from an overheating chemical tank at GKN's plant led to evacuations and upended life for days for about 50,000 people.
According to some estimates more than 30 lawsuits have been filed in the past three weeks in Orange County Superior Court and in California Central District federal court against GKN Aerospace and other companies and corporate entities blamed for roles in the days-long affair that captured attention, not only in the Los Angeles area, but throughout the country, over Memorial Day weekend 2026.
The lawsuits, which have been filed by attorneys from throughout the U.S., all center around similar claims:
That GKN and other companies allegedly failed to properly maintain and monitor one of its chemical tanks used for storing a substance known as methyl methacrylate, at its manufacturing facility in Garden Grove, California.
Methyl methacrylate is a clear liquid chemical compound used as a chemical building block in the manufacture of certain kinds of plexiglass-like products, such as the cockpit windshields and aircraft canopies GKN produces at its facility for civilian and military aircraft, including the F-35 Lightning fighter jet.
According to published reports and court documents, methyl methacrylate is supposed to be maintained at cold temperatures and in other conditions designed to prevent it from "polymerizing," or turning into a solid plastic. That process can create large amounts of heat, potentially resulting in dangerous explosions.
Release of the chemical itself is considered less dangerous to public health than releases of other toxic substances, such as chlorine gas.
However, the lawsuits assert the manner in which GKN allegedly stored this particular batch of about 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate amounted to a "public nuisance" that should generate large payments from the company.
The lawsuits center on the evacuations ordered by Orange County fire and emergency responders from May 21-May 26 in the communities of Garden Grove, Stanton, Westminster, Cypress and Buena Park, as well as portions of Anaheim.
According to published reports and court documents, firefighters and others responding to GKN on May 21 feared the inability to properly control the temperature at the storage tank could trigger a dangerous explosion that could, in turn, lead to a catastrophic "runaway event" affecting other chemical storage tanks nearby.
The lawsuits seek to make GKN pay for the economic and emotional toll from the evacuations, which forced people from their homes and closed schools and businesses, effectively ending normal life in the communities for nearly a week.
The lawsuits seek court orders requiring GKN and its co-defendants to pay unspecified compensatory damages, plus potentially costly punitive damages and attorney fees.
According to court records, nine class action lawsuits have been filed in federal court, while at least one has been filed in Orange County Superior Court.
The state court action was filed by the firms of DiCello Levitt, of Chicago and San Diego; Miner Barnhill & Galland, of Westlake Village; and the Collins Law Group, of Naperville, Illinois.
“This case is about accountability for a preventable event that disrupted entire communities and put families in harm’s way,” said attorney Dan Flynn, with the firm of DiCello Levitt, in a statement announcing their lawsuit. “Companies that store and use dangerous chemicals in residential communities have a fundamental obligation to inspect, maintain, and operate their facilities safely. When they fail to do so, and families are forced from their homes while facing the risk of toxic exposure or explosion, those companies must be held responsible.”
In federal court, class actions have been filed by attorneys with the Parris Law Firm, of Lancaster; Kneupper & Covey, of Huntington Beach; Litteral LLP, of Sacramento; the McCune Law Group, of Irvine; Seeger Weiss LLP, of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey; Sbaiti & Company, of Dallas, Texas, and Newark, New Jersey; Ahdoot & Wolfson, of Burbank; and Coulson P.C., of Detroit.
It is likely the number of similar lawsuits will result in the complaints being consolidated before individual judges in both federal and state courts.
GKN and its co-defendants have not yet responded to the complaints in court.
