Firm Awarded $11.7 Million in Plant Fire
A Chatsworth aircraft parts maker was awarded $11.7 million Friday by a Superior Court jury that supported the company’s allegation that a defective circuit breaker caused a fire that destroyed its manufacturing plant.
The jury sided with Dunlap & Abbott Manufacturing Co. in a suit filed against Square D Co., which made the circuit breaker. The award represents damages to cover the costs of the fire and lost profits but no punitive damages, said Mark Roth, a lawyer who represented Dunlap & Abbott.
“I feel good. I think it was a fair award,” Dunlap & Abbott owner Ted McCarthy said shortly after the verdict was announced.
Officials of Square D, a major producer of electric products, could not be reached for comment. The jury’s decision was announced after the close of business hours at Square D’s headquarters in Palatine, Ill.
Lawyers for the law firm which represented Square D in the case also could not be reached.
The flash fire gutted Dunlap & Abbott’s plant on Sunburst Street on June 4, 1984, injuring nine people and destroying the company’s collection of computerized lathes and drills. The company, which makes a variety of metal and hydraulic parts for aircraft and missiles, rebuilt the football-field-size plant the following year.
Dunlap & Abbott later sued Square D, alleging that the circuit breaker failed to trip a short circuit in the plant’s electrical wiring and thus started the fire. The trial lasted four months, and the 12-member jury in San Fernando deliberated 3 1/2 days before reaching its verdict.
