Lineage Hit With Class Action Over Boyle Heights Warehouse Fire

A Boyle Heights resident has filed a proposed class action against Lineage Inc., Altus Power and other companies, alleging that smoke, ash and lingering odors from a June warehouse fire affected nearby residents, interfered with the use of their homes and forced him to spend money protecting himself from the conditions.

Eric Lara filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court after the June 17 fire at Lineage's cold storage warehouse at 1400 S. Los Palos St. The complaint alleges negligence, premises liability, public nuisance, trespass, strict liability and unlawful business practices. Lara seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for himself and a proposed group of people affected by the fire.

The blaze burned for more than a week and prompted officials to warn nearby residents to remain indoors. Emergency declarations followed at the city, county and state levels as smoke spread across the surrounding area and the loss of refrigeration left millions of pounds of food inside the warehouse to spoil.

Lara lives about 1.5 miles from the facility and alleges that smoke and ash reached his property and vehicle. He claims the conditions also disrupted his ability to use his home normally and led him to buy multiple air purifiers and run air conditioning and filtration equipment for longer periods, increasing his utility costs.

Lara's existing health condition also factors into his account of how the fire affected him. He is undergoing cancer treatment and must leave home regularly for medical care, according to the complaint. He claims the conditions created by the fire made those trips more difficult and cites potential expenses for evaluating or treating respiratory symptoms.

The proposed class includes people who lived in, owned property in, or were present in areas covered by evacuation orders, shelter-in-place instructions or air quality warnings tied to the fire. The lawsuit seeks to extend Lara's claims beyond his individual losses to others who allegedly experienced similar effects.

California's public nuisance law applies to conditions that can harm health, offend the senses, or interfere with people's ability to comfortably use their property. A nuisance becomes public when its effects extend across a community or neighborhood rather than remaining limited to a single property. Lara's lawsuit relies on that principle in alleging that smoke, ash, and odors from the warehouse spread into surrounding residential areas.

Because public nuisance law addresses harm shared by a larger community, an individual seeking damages generally must point to a distinct personal loss caused by the same condition. Lara cites the cost of air filtration and additional electricity, alleged exposure to smoke and ash, and interference with the use of his home as losses he personally experienced.

Los Angeles officials have separately described conditions tied to the spoiled food inside the warehouse as a public nuisance, though that designation does not by itself establish civil liability in Lara's lawsuit.

Negligence and premises liability address a different part of the dispute. Negligence law can hold a company responsible when it fails to take reasonable care against a risk it knew or should have known about, while premises liability applies that responsibility to the ownership, control, or maintenance of property. Lara argues that the companies connected to the warehouse and rooftop equipment failed to adequately address the risk of another fire.

A previous fire at the same warehouse is relevant to that argument. Los Angeles Fire Department records show that firefighters responded to a rooftop solar panel fire at the property in August 2024. Lara's lawsuit claims the earlier incident should have provided warning of a potential hazard, particularly because the warehouse is surrounded by homes, schools, apartments and businesses.

Responsibility for the June fire remains disputed. Lineage has said it believes the blaze began while a subcontractor connected to Altus Power was testing the rooftop solar system. Altus Power has said the cause has not been determined, and officials have not announced a final finding assigning responsibility.

Trespass law can also apply when physical substances allegedly enter private property without permission. Lara bases that claim on allegations that smoke and ash traveled beyond the warehouse and reached his property.

Cleanup has continued well beyond the initial fire. Los Angeles officials ordered the removal of roughly 85 million pounds of spoiled food from the warehouse, while county health officials have inspected the site and issued citations over conditions there. Lineage said Saturday that nearly half of the food waste had been removed and that demolition of the remaining structure would follow.

The cause of the June 17 fire remains under investigation.