LISTEN: The widow of Rockdale County official Kenny Johnson has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, as BioLab says it expects to face “dozens, and soon hundreds,” of related cases. GPB's Pamela Kirkland reports.
The first wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the 2024 BioLab fire has been filed against BioLab and its parent company, KIK Consumer Products.
Shamita Johnson filed the lawsuit, alleging that exposure to toxic chemicals released from the company’s Conyers facility caused respiratory injuries that led to the death of her husband, Kenny Johnson.
Johnson collapsed after testifying during a meeting held by state lawmakers on Oct. 8, 2024. He was transported to Grady Hospital in Atlanta where he died. He served as a supervisor with the Rockdale County Soil and Water Conservation District and became an outspoken critic of BioLab after the incident.
In court filings, Johnson’s attorneys say an independent autopsy determined he died from acute respiratory failure caused by inhalation of toxic chemicals.
The lawsuit also claims a forensic toxicologist found “Kenny had high amounts of bromine in his blood.”
“But for [BioLab’s] release of toxic gases, vapors, and smoke into Plaintiff’s community, Kenny would not have suffered respiratory distress and death,” the lawsuit states.
GPB has not independently reviewed the autopsy or toxicology report. The Georgia Department of Public Health said Johnson’s death certificate has not been finalized because his official cause of death remains pending.
The lawsuit names Bio-Lab, KIK Custom Products and several current and former company officials, including former KIK CEO Michael Sload. It seeks damages for wrongful death, negligence, nuisance and ultrahazardous activity.
BioLab and its parent company, KIK Consumer Products, declined to comment on the lawsuit. An attorney for Shamita Johnson said she had no comment at this stage of the case.
Until May 2025, BioLab manufactured products used to clean pools and spas at the Conyers plant. The Sept. 29, 2024, fire sent a plume of toxic chemicals across metro Atlanta and prompted evacuation and shelter-in-place orders affecting thousands of residents.
Earlier this year, Georgia Tech researchers published the first detailed study of the chemical characterization of the plume. They found the chemical bromine, not chlorine, dominated the plume in the immediate aftermath of the fire. They also identified 26 different chemical species in the air following the fires.
The Johnson lawsuit could be the first of hundreds of new cases filed over illnesses that residents attribute to the fire.
Mindy Bish, an attorney who does not represent the Johnson family, said her firm represents slightly more than 500 residents and plans to file personal-injury lawsuits before Sept. 29, the second anniversary of the fire.
Bish said her firm is pursuing those claims separately because it does not believe the pending federal class action is seeking compensation for residents’ individual injuries.
In court filings, attorneys for BioLab and KIK have also told the court that they expect to be “litigating dozens, and soon hundreds, of related cases.” The filing does not say whether it includes the clients represented by Bish.
Residents and business owners have also brought a class action lawsuit against BioLab that is still moving through federal court.
For more on the 2024 BioLab fire and GPB’s investigation, Listen to Manufacturing Danger: The BioLab Story wherever you get your podcasts.
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