Tyco/Grinnell Court Suits: Over 1,100 And Counting
According to a comprehensive court records search by LASER, Grinnell has
been involved in over 1,100 court suits in twenty-five states over the
last several years. This staggering number of suits indicates the
potential scope of questionable and unsafe construction and maintenance
work done by Grinnell, as well as revealing Grinnell's "take no
prisoners attitude" when it comes to disputes with their customers and
clients.
To LASER's knowledge, this is the first effort to conduct a sweeping,
national review of the litigation history of a construction and
maintenance company. And with over eleven-hundred cases already
uncovered in only 25 states searched so far, LASER expects that
ultimately, over 2,000 cases involving Grinnell will be discovered. Then
we will look at the scores of federal District Courts for additional
legal disputes.
This pattern of court suits may show some "hot spots" where Grinnell's
work and safety history has been unsatisfactory. For instance, there are
98 suits involving Grinnell in Chicago alone. In Pennsylvania, there are
an incredible 182 suits, including 150 suits where Grinnell is the
defendant!
The sheer number of these suits raises many questions. To some
observers, these numbers are not important because Grinnell is not the
defendant in all of these cases. That is true. But Grinnell is the
defendant in almost 500 or close to one-half of these cases. Some of the
suits where Grinnell is the defendant involve accusation of faulty
construction, worker injury cases, and other contractors suing Grinnell
in payment disputes. That alone is bad enough.
To LASER, the total number of cases is important, and not just the
plaintiff/defendant breakdown. This is because in the suits where
Grinnell is a plaintiff, this also means that Grinnell is usually suing
a customer or client, or a fellow contractor. That information should be
of concern to current and prospective clients, customers and contractors
of Grinnell. Are you buying a court suit when you buy services or
products from, or participate on a job with Grinnell? For hundreds of
companies across the country, that was exactly the problem. Business
with Grinnell meant they ended up getting sued. And to dozens, or
possibly hundreds of clients, business with Grinnell meant you had to
hire a lawyer and sue Grinnell merely to get a construction problem
resolved. It is exactly this reliance on court room battles that is
threatening to wreck the construction industry.
LASER has reviewed files on hundreds of Grinnell's court cases, and
presented summaries of these disputes in past issues. Here, again, are
reviews of dozens of additional cases, from San Diego, Los Angeles, and
Sacramento, California, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan. Previous issues have
summarized Grinnell's court disputes in Nevada, Oregon, Kentucky, and
other urban California Counties.
