Orange County will sue to recoup more than $4 million in costs associated with the response to a chemical threat at GKN Aerospace’s Garden Grove facility after a faulty tank triggered mass evacuations over Memorial Day weekend.
The OC Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed during a closed session on Tuesday, Aug. 25, to have County Counsel Leon Page hire outside law firms and initiate litigation against the company to “seek penalties and recover costs” the county incurred in response to the May incident.
The county will be represented by Baron & Budd P.C. and Diab Chambers, LLP, which would receive an 18% contingency fee on any recovered money, Page said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The county demanded full payment of costs related to the incident in a July 17 letter that Page sent the company.
A majority of the emergency response costs, around $2.7 million, came from the OC Sheriff’s Department, according to estimates listed in the letter. Expenses from the OC Health Care Agency, the county CEO’s office, OC Public Works and OC Community Resources total more than $750,000.
In addition to the nearly $3.5 million in costs submitted by various departments, the county also listed $500,000 in discretionary funds that the supervisors allocated to help residents impacted by the crisis.
“This incident was clearly not an unforeseeable accident as GKN has a well-documented history of regulatory violations at the site dating back over a decade,” Page wrote in the letter. “While GKN has pledged generic community relief funds to local nonprofit organizations, those corporate contributions do not absolve GKN of its strict financial liability to the taxpayers of Orange County.”
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against GKN Aerospace since an overheated tank containing methyl methacrylate — a chemical used in acrylic-plastics manufacturing — forced the evacuation of more than 50,000 residents in Garden Grove and surrounding cities as emergency crews worked to prevent an explosion or spill.
The company has agreed to create a $100 million claims program for affected residents, according to an announcement Monday from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.