The people who should be sued in this incident are the pax who picked up and lugged their carry ons with them........
...Oddly I would bet that in most cases its the same group of people who think only of themselves.
I suspect any defence team will be poring through footage of the evacuation to see if anyone exiting with hand luggage are among the complainants.
It would put a bit of a dampener on your claim of 'severe mental distress' after you were forced to run screaming from the burning aircraft, when the cross examining lawyer points out that your 'distress' didn't stop you from taking the time to make sure you had your iPad and your duty free with you before you left! 😳