A jury has awarded $8.8 million to two dozen Carson residents exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas by a fire that ignited pallets of hand sanitizer and pushed chemicals into the Dominguez Channel in 2021.
Residents complained of a “rotten egg” stench for months and experienced headaches, breathing problems and nausea.
“The suffering of the Carson community was denied and downplayed for far too long,” attorney Kelly W. Weil said in a statement. “This month’s long trial exposed Defendants’ brazen and reckless creation of one of the largest environmental disasters in the history of Los Angeles.”
The jury’s verdict calls for a payment of $2.8 million in compensatory damages to the 24 residents and another $6 million in punitive damages for malicious conduct. The payout is the first of potentially many. Another 13,750 plaintiffs are still waiting for their day in court, and attorneys estimate the total verdict could exceed $1 billion if similar amounts are awarded in the future.
The lawsuit was filed against Liberty Property LP, the property owner; Prologis, its parent company; and its tenants, Day to Day Imports Inc. and Virgin Scent Inc., which does business as ArtNaturals.
Prologis did not respond to a request to comment. Day to Day and Virgin Scent could not be reached.
In a statement, Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes said the verdict affirms that impacts to residents “were real and that accountability matters.”
“While no verdict can undo the harm experienced by affected families, this outcome sends an important message: communities should not bear the costs of industrial misconduct,” Davis-Holmes stated. “Industry must be responsible for the consequences of its actions, and residents should not be left to pay the price for environmental failures.”
The September 2021 fire began at a distribution center on Avalon Boulevard and “engulfed an entire city block within hours,” according to the lawsuit. Hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to Carson and spent two days battling the blaze as it burned through stacks of pallets and cardboard boxes, towering as high as 15 feet, with “highly flammable ethanol-based hand sanitizer” inside.
Just days later, the Food and Drug Administration found a hand sanitizer made by the same company contained “unacceptable levels of benzene, acetaldehyde and acetal contaminants” and urged consumers not to use the product as both benzene and acetaldehyde may cause cancer.
The Dominguez Channel flowing through Carson, Calif. as levels of wretched-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas that have plagued south Los Angeles County communities for weeks are declining as authorities use various mitigation methods in a flood control channel. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)
The Carson residents’ lawsuit alleges the companies and property owners failed to promptly and properly deal with the “soggy, charred debris” left behind. As a result, “un-combusted alcohols” entered storm drains and discharged into the Dominguez Channel, a 15.7 mile-long stream that stretches through Hawthorne, Carson and Torrance before emptying into the San Pedro Bay.
As the mixture sat in the channel’s stagnant water, it dissolved oxygen and rapidly killed off vegetation, causing an elevated level of hydrogen sulfide gas, according court filings. The South Coast Air Quality Management District determined the hydrogen sulfide reached a level 230 times higher than the state nuisance standards.
A foul odor generated by the gas wafted throughout the South Bay for more than 10 weeks while the county, city leaders and the local air quality management district tried to determine its origins. Investigators originally pinned the smell on the dead vegetation, before concluding the fire’s runoff had served as the catalyst.
Los Angeles County spent at least $54 million — with estimates as high as $143 million — to eliminate the stench. The county offered reimbursements to residents for air filters, purifiers and temporary relocation.
The county sued the property owners and tenants in an attempt to recover its costs in January 2022. That case is still pending.
Separately, a judge in December 2025 imposed more than $10 million in penalties against Day to Day Imports and Virgin Scent for failing to obtain required stormwater permits and for the pollutant discharge. Prologis and Liberty Property also were found liable, but were not required to pay a penalty because they had already spent $10 million on the site cleanup, according to court filings.