Insurers Sue 3 Firms for Rocket Mishap

Two groups that insured users of a private telecommunications satellite destroyed in a launching mishap in 1984 have sued McDonnell Douglas Corp. of St. Louis, Morton Thiokol Inc. of Chicago, and HITCO, a diversified manufacturing firm with corporate headquarters in Newport Beach, for $10.75 million.

The suits were filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court by several insurance firms alleging that the three companies, all of which make parts for the rocket motors that enable satellites to be launched from the space shuttle, sold a flawed rocket assembly to the insurance companies’ clients, the Western Union Telegraph Co. and PERMUTEL, a public utility firm for the Republic of Indonesia.

The suits claim that the three manufacturers are liable for damages the insurance companies paid to their clients when the satellite failed to go into orbit and its contents were lost.

The suits apparently were filed in Orange County because both HITCO and the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co.-Huntington Beach subsidiary, which assembled the rocket booster, are headquartered here. Officials of the companies involved and attorneys for the insurance companies could not be reached for comment late Friday.