Eight jurors will begin deciding Sept. 14 if about 3,500 people deserve compensation from the city of Richmond, Cornerstone Trading Group and its owner, Seth Smith, because of an April 2023 plastics fire.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt will preside in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana over a lawsuit’s trial that’s expected to last between five and eight days. Tushawn Craig and Marquetta Stokes accuse the city, Cornerstone and Smith of negligence leading to the fire. During September 2025, Pratt certified the lawsuit as a class action, and court documents show 3,594 people have been notified of potential class-action eligibility.
Cornerstone stored plastics waiting to be recycled on three properties — 308 NW F St., 310 NW F St. and 358 NW F St. The city used unsafe building procedures to order that Cornerstone clean up the properties. When there was no cleanup, the city purchased the 310 and 358 properties through tax routes in an effort to spur Cornerstone’s compliance. Cornerstone maintained ownership of the 308 property.
On April 11, 2023, fire ignited and quickly consumed all three properties, burning plastics, buildings and truck trailers. Black, toxic smoke billowed into the sky and was blown eastward across Richmond into Ohio. Soon after the fire began, Wayne County Emergency Management Agency issued an evacuation order for those within a half-mile of the site. The order lasted until April 16.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for costs incurred and loss of income during the evacuation, damages for physical and mental health problems from smoke and debris, and for invasion of properties by the smoke and debris.
A version of this article appeared in the September 9 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
