$4.5 million awarded to fire engine accident victims
A jury recently awarded more than $4.5 million in damages in connection with a fatal crash involving Waterbury (CT) Fire Department`s Engine 11, which slammed into a tree on its way to a false alarm at Arett Sales Corp. on May 10, 1990. The estates of two firefighters killed in the crash received $2.45 million, their spouses $800,000. Another firefighter seriously injured in the crash was awarded $800,000 and his wife, $250,000. The driver of the engine was awarded $251,500.
The brakes on the engine failed, and the engine careened down a hill before it hit the tree.
The judgment was against Wells Fargo Alarm Services, based in San Francisco, California, and Advanced Automatic Sprinkler Protection, which were found negligent in causing and reporting the fire alarm from Arett Sales Corp. Both companies failed to notify the fire department that the Arett system was being serviced. Wells Fargo asked the fire department to respond when the sprinkler company set off an alarm.
At the end of a five-month trial, the jury determined that Wells Fargo was about 75 percent to blame (liable for $3.3 million) and the Wolcott-based sprinkler company, which was working on the system the day of the crash, had to pay $1.1 million. Arett, a lawn and garden supply retailer that already had settled with the plaintiffs, was cleared of any negligence.
Attorneys for the alarm and sprinkler firms said they plan to appeal, charging that the city was responsible for the crash because it failed to maintain the vehicle`s brakes.
Attorneys for the firefighters conceded during the trial that the brakes were a major component of the crash, but they argued that the firefighters` safety never would have been compromised if the defendants hadn`t reported the alarm.
[Source: “Waterbury (CT) Republican-American,” April 18, 1996.]
