Firm Told to Pay $6.4 Million in Collapse of Apartments

A construction company was ordered to pay $6.4 million in damages to the owners of an 80-unit apartment complex in Granada Hills after a jury found that substandard construction contributed to its destruction in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, lawyers said Wednesday.

Reinforcing Post Tensioning Services Inc. of Claremont must also pay the owners, the Neil and Margo Shekhter Family Trust of Bel-Air, interest and court costs that could reach $2 million, according to attorney Steve Zelig, lawyer for the trust.

“This company opted to construct a building using materials that did not comply with the very plans they submitted,” Zelig said. “This was an obvious ploy to cut costs at the expense of safety.”

But attorney Scott Richard Lord, who represented Reinforcing Post Tensioning Services, blamed the building’s collapse on the force of the quake. He said the Shekhter Trust had already received $5.5 million in settlements from other contractors and insurance companies.

“The fact is this building was 2 miles from the epicenter of the Northridge earthquake and experienced some of the most severe ground motion in the county,” Lord said. “If the award is allowed to stand, it will result in what is in effect a double recovery.”

The apartment building, since rebuilt at its original location in the 11600 block of Blucher Avenue, first was constructed in 1986.

During the 10-week trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Zelig argued that the firm deviated substantially from building plans that had been approved by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.

The company failed to connect walls to an elevated deck above the garage, Zelig said. It compromised safety by using less expensive steel and construction methods, he said.