RALEIGH - The spectacular chemical fire that consumed an Apex hazardous waste plant prompted a lawsuit just 18 hours after the first explosion.

An Apex couple Friday sued Environmental Quality under its various names in Wake County Superior Court. The suit, filed by a top environmental lawyer, seeks financial compensation for those affected by potentially toxic fumes and seeks class-action status.

Environmental Quality, or EQ, owns and runs the plant. About half the residents of the western Wake County town of about 28,000 were displaced Thursday night. As of late Friday, those within a one-mile radius of the plant at 1005 Investment Blvd. had not been allowed to return home.

The couple filing suit, Michael and Betsy Borden, live in the Surrey Meadows subdivision, which is about three-fourths of a mile from the EQ plant.

The environmental negligence and liability lawsuit names EQIS North Carolina, EQ Industrial Services and The Environmental Quality Co. -- three related Michigan corporations doing business in Apex. The EQ plant in Apex processes and stores hazardous waste.

The lawsuit was filed by Raleigh lawyer J. Michael Malone and Richard S. Lewis, an environmental lawyer in Washington with the law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld and Toll. The firm, whose lawyers have won several billion-dollar settlements in class-action suits, successfully represented plaintiffs in the $5 billion jury verdict in the Exxon Valdez oil spill lawsuit -- the largest environmental case in U.S. history.

"There's clearly a loss of use and enjoyment as a result of the evacuation," Lewis said late Friday. "To the extent that there are property values that are affected, impacted and diminished, we'll be studying that with experts over the next few months and if there is a loss, we'll pursue it."

EQ spokesman Robert Doyle said Friday afternoon that he had not heard about the suit, which was filed at 4:26 p.m. "I can't comment," Doyle said.

Class-action suits are filed when separate similar cases against one defendant would unduly burden the court system. Class-action status must be approved by a judge.