In February, two
jury verdicts assessed millions in damages against Grinnell for the
failure of a Grinnell Fire Protection Sprinkler system at the Diversified
Records documents warehouse in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. These
judgments are only the most recent of scores of civil suits against
Grinnell alleging failure of their fire protection systems.
Diversified Records had maintained a warehouse in West
Pittston, Pa. that was responsible
sprinkler system failed to protect the warehouse and the
documents. Over 800,000 boxes of records were destroyed.
According to court testimony, Grinnell had caused damage
to the Diversified Records facility in the past. Rather than correct the
situation and act more safely in the future, Grinnell simply chose to shut
down the sprinkler system in two parts of the Diversified Records
facility. And in another part of the records warehouse, the Grinnell
sprinkler system was for the safekeeping of priceless financial records of
numerous companies. The company sought to fulfill its responsibility by
hiring who they thought were the most skilled professionals to design and
construct a safe warehouse and the best fire protection system that money
could buy.
Unfortunately, Diversified Records had contracted with
Grinnell to design and install the fire sprinkler system. When a fire
leveled the warehouse in May 1997, the Grinnell fire protection
their losses. Other civil trials are still pending,
including a New York City trial involving the destroyed documents
belonging to the Brooklyn Hospital Center.
Grinnell May Be Out $40 Million in
Defective Fire Sprinkler Suit
According to published accounts, Grinnell may be on the
hook for the entire $40 million in judgments awarded so far. A reported
settlement between inadequately sized for protecting that area from fire,
according to Pat Dougherty, Diversified Records’ attorney. "It couldn’t do
what they said it could do," charged Dougherty.
Many of Diversified Records customers sued for damages
over their lost business records. The first large awards went to Mobil Oil
and First Union Bank to cover Diversified Records and Grinnell stated that
not only is Grinnell to pay $1.675 million to Diversified Records and its
insurance carrier, but if any of the juries found Grinnell even partly at
fault, then Diversified Records was not liable for any of the damages.
Since the juries found that Grinnell was 40 percent at fault, under the
published terms of the settlement, Grinnell is liable for the entire $40
million in adverse judgments rendered so far.
(Case #2953-C-1999)
FPC
