Garden Grove City Council Meeting & FBI Raid
The fact that the FBI and the EPA obtained search warrants for the GKN Aerospace facility — where a compromised chemical tank forced the evacuation of some 50,000 people for several days last month — confirms our conviction that legal action is necessary to hold GKN accountable.
"As we all saw at Tuesday's City Council meeting, without legal recourse, GKN simply will not voluntarily submit to accountability," said Filippo Marchino, Managing Partner of The X-Law Group, P.C.
Questioned by the Mayor and councilmembers in a standing-room-only council chamber, with two overflow rooms filled to capacity and multiple media outlets covering the event, GKN Senior Vice President Steve Carlin resisted making commitments on any matter of substance, great or small.
In a word, he ducked every substantive question put to him: Would GKN remove the noxious methyl methacrylate (MMA) from the city, or even move the tank? What processes were in place at its facility? Would the company set up a claims program so affected residents could simply register their grievances? What options is it considering going forward? To every such query, Mr. Carlin responded with the same talking points about ongoing investigations and operating in a regulated industry. The most telling evasion came when he was asked simply for a timeframe for when things might come into focus, and he declined to offer even that.
"In light of those tactics, Mr. Carlin's 'apology' and his agreement to hold a town hall meeting at some undetermined date appear to be nothing more than a P.R. move. Illusory promises and empty platitudes aimed at damage control, not at addressing the community's grievances," said Lawrence J. Conlan of the Presidio Law Firm, LLP. "Only legal action, the federal and local criminal investigations, and our class action lawsuit can force GKN to respond meaningfully."
The X-Law Group, P.C. and the Presidio Law Firm, LLP have taken the lead in holding GKN accountable. On May 23, 2026, the two firms filed the first lawsuit in this matter: a class action in federal court, Page v. GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, Inc., et al., Case No. 8:26-cv-01293, assigned to the Hon. Monica Ramirez Almadani. (The various "copy-cat" lawsuits filed in its wake are being assigned to Judge Ramirez Almadani as well.) Like the Orange County District Attorney's Office, the two firms immediately served GKN with a preservation-of-evidence letter, demanding that the company preserve much of the same evidence the FBI and EPA are now seeking.
We also lodged a letter with the Garden Grove City Council ahead of Tuesday's meeting, calling on GKN to provide direct answers, release records, preserve evidence, compensate affected residents and businesses, cooperate in an efficient legal process, and implement independently verified safety changes before similar operations continue.
To date, GKN has declined to accept service of the lawsuit filed on behalf of affected residents, even though the claims arise from a local incident at GKN's own Garden Grove facility. At a minimum, GKN should stop playing a corporate shell game with its UK-based parent company to delay the case; and accept service immediately.
Watch the video below to see NBC’s report on the event, including an interview with The X-Law Group’s Carlos Colorado.