An insurance company has filed a federal lawsuit against BioLab Inc. and its parent companies over payments it was allegedly forced to make following a massive warehouse fire that happened in 2024 in Conyers, Georgia.

Verlan Fire Insurance Company, a subsidiary of The Hanover Insurance Group, filed the lawsuit against BioLab, KIK Custom, and KIK International in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in November.

The lawsuit accuses BioLab of "negligence, carelessness, and recklessness," which caused the toxic chemical cloud and fire that lasted for days in Rockdale County.

BioLab warehouse fire shuts causes shelter-in-place order

The Sept. 29 blaze at the plant led to the closure of a major interstate, classes canceled for schoolchildren, and forced thousands of residents to shelter in place as the chemical cloud moved around Atlanta's suburbs. Parts of a building collapsed during the fire, and the area remained an "active emergency response scene" for nearly four weeks.

On the morning of the fire, a BioLab employee at a storage warehouse reported hearing a "popping sound" and immediately saw that a product that was reactive to water was wet, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said in a report filed in November 2024. Fire officials said at the time that a sprinkler head had malfunctioned, causing water to mix with a water-reactive chemical.

The worker tried unsuccessfully to isolate the chemical product and called 911 as "large toxic vapor plumes" formed inside the building, and then flames could be seen in the area. A second fire broke out later, producing "thick black smoke, followed by multicolored plumes," the chemical safety board said.

In April, the U.S. Department of Labor cited BioLab for six violations, including four serious violations, saying that an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that the blaze was caused by improperly stored hazardous chemicals.

Lawsuit alleges negligence caused damages

In Verlan's lawsuit, the company claims that BioLab did not have adequate fire protection systems or an emergency response plan in the case of a blaze.

"At all relevant times, Defendants knew of the amount of dangerous and toxic chemicals at the Conyers Plant and failed to take adequate precautions to ensure these chemicals were handled and stored safely and to prevent dangerous chemical reactions," the lawsuit reads in part, claiming that BioLab did not conform to regulations for the safe handling and storage of hazardous materials.

Due to the fire, Verlan's attorneys say that the insurance company had to pay more than $20 million in damages and losses to a manufacturing company located about a mile away from the BioLab facility. 

The insurance company is now asking a jury to recover its payments and all future payments, as well as the recovery of the policy deductible.

This is the latest lawsuit that BioLab and its parent companies are facing. Last year, Rockdale County filed a federal lawsuit over the fire. There is also a class action lawsuit set up for residents affected by the blaze.

Chemical fire fallout forces facility closure

Earlier this year, BioLab Inc. announced that it had decided not to rebuild the main manufacturing facility, saying it had been unable to resume manufacturing operations.

"After taking steps to meet customer needs through alternative production, and in considering our future business needs carefully, we have made the difficult decision not to restart manufacturing at the Conyers plant," it said.

Though manufacturing won't restart, the company's Conyers distribution center will remain operational and fill customer orders for products from other manufacturing facilities, BioLab said.

There had been other destructive fires at the Conyers complex, which opened in 1973.

In May 2004, multiple warehouse explosions led to a huge fire and chlorine-laden fire that prompted the evacuation of 300 people, at least nine of whom sought hospital treatment for burning eyes and lungs.

In June 2015, six Rockdale County firefighters were hurt in a fire at the complex, and another fire in 2016 prompted voluntary evacuations, the Rockdale Citizen reported.

In September 2020, a chemical fire prompted authorities to shut down Interstate 20. Biolab workers tried to isolate decomposing chemicals to prevent the catastrophe, but their forklifts slid on the wet floor amid the fumes. Poorly stacked pallets of materials hindered firefighters, nine of whom went to hospitals after inhaling hazardous vapors, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board determined.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.