UNIVERSAL CITY : Firms Fined $100,000 for Alleged Asbestos Violations

MCA Inc. and five firms hired for post-quake work at Universal City Studios have been fined more than $100,000 for illegally releasing asbestos into the air while remodeling sound stages, state job safety officials said this week.

All six defendants have denied the allegations and appealed to a board of the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health. A spokeswoman for MCA, Universal’s parent company, said the firm is confident that it will win the appeal.

Members of a film production crew working on the television show “seaQuest DSV” told state investigators about the potential for exposure to asbestos in March, when construction workers spent weeks stripping sound stage walls to make damage assessments after the Northridge earthquake.