Sewer Agency Rejects Claims in 2 Fire Deaths : Accident: Decision clears way for possible lawsuits by families of the victims. D.A.’s office is conducting investigation.

The Orange County Sanitation Districts has rejected claims for damages filed by the families of two men killed earlier this year in a fire at a Huntington Beach sewage treatment plant.

The decision paves the way for a possible civil court fight. Claremont attorney Greg K. Hafif was notified Wednesday of the decision and said he intends to pursue negligence claims against the sanitation agency related to the Feb. 1 fire that killed Joe Patterson and Robin Miller, both employees of an Ontario-based engineering firm.

“I feel that somebody should pay for this, because I’m paying every day,” said Patterson’s father, Andy C. Patterson. “The loss has been unbearable for us.”

Meanwhile, sanitation agency officials have hired special legal counsel to deal with a related personnel dispute involving a sanitation agency laboratory manager who has been cooperating with local prosecutors in their investigation of the fire.

At an initial cost of $25,000, agency officials have retained attorney Craig Scott, in part to address claims filed by Louis Sangermano, who has alleged that agency officials are seeking to oust him because of his cooperation in an ongoing district attorney’s investigation of the fatal fire and other matters, officials said.

Agency officials also indicated that Scott would look into allegations that Sangermano engaged in sexual harassment of other agency employees. Neither Sangermano, who is on a medical leave from his $85,000-a-year position, nor his attorneys could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Local prosecutors are trying to determine whether there were criminal violations related to the fire, including whether sanitation agency officials may have withheld critical information from state authorities during a separate investigation. Last month, the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited both the sanitation agency and the Ontario engineering firm Pascal and Ludwig for serious safety violations in connection with the fire.

The case was referred to the district attorney’s office by Cal/OSHA investigators for further review.

Sanitation agency spokeswoman Corinne Clawson said Wednesday that the rejection of claims filed by the victims’ families was a “routine” legal maneuver followed when parties give notice that they are preparing possible court action against the agency.

Among the allegations in the families’ complaint against the agency was that its officials did not notify Patterson or Miller that they were working in a potentially hazardous area.

Although the cause of the fire has not been determined, officials have speculated that a spark from a chipping hammer used by the workers could have ignited a combustible mixture of enriched oxygen present near the work site.

“I think they (the prosecutors) should go as far as they can to find out what happened there,” Andy Patterson said. “I lost somebody I loved very much.”