Group Homes’ Insurer Sues CAI/Arnel Over Danversport Blast

By Ethan Forman, The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.

Jul. 29–DANVERS — An insurance company for two group homes damaged in the November 2006 Danversport chemical plant explosion has sued the companies housed there, CAI Inc. and Arnel Co. Inc.

The two separate lawsuits filed in Salem Superior Court are an attempt to recoup what the insurance company paid out in claims and are among nine lawsuits filed so far. The early morning Nov. 22, 2006, blast forced the evacuation of 300 people, damaged scores of homes, displaced more than 70 families and demolished a half-dozen businesses.

As these lawsuits wend their way through the courts, residents and some businesses that formed a trust in an attempt to reach a settlement through arbitration appear to have reached an agreement, which still must be voted on by the group’s members.

“We have reached an agreement between the insurance companies and CAI and the board of directors of the trust,” said Susan Tropeano of 4 Bates St. Court, a member of the board of directors of the group, Safe Area for Everyone, or SAFE.

“We are now preparing to have a meeting to allow the entire beneficiary list to vote, and that’s going to be in August,” Tropeano said. She declined to give details of the proposed settlement. The beneficiary list includes both residents and businesses affected by the blast, and the vote would see if they agree with what has been hammered out.

While this arbitration process was continuing, others have gone to court, including Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., an insurer for two nonprofit group home operators.

The insurance company has sued Georgetown-based CAI, which makes inks for flexible packaging and paper board, and Arnel, which made custom coatings and finishes. The companies shared the same Water Street plant, the locus of the blast.

The insurance company is seeking $245,944 for damages to a group home for the disabled at 2 Bates St., which was owned by Malden-based Triangle Inc., the lawsuit says. The group home operator also suffered losses from the interruption of its business and other expenses.

The insurance company’s other civil action seeks $24,296 in “business interruption and additional expenses,” including moving and rental costs, incurred by North American Family Institute of Danvers, which operated a group home at 4 Riverside St. it leased from the state Department of Mental Health. The state has since set aside $350,000 to fix the home.

In its lawsuits, the insurance company said both CAI and Arnel had large capacity storage tanks for highly flammable and highly combustible solvents.

On the day before the explosion, an employee of the facility “filled a heated mixing tank with 2,000 gallons of solvents and other ingredients including flammable, volatile solvents such as heptane and propyl alcohol,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuits allege Arnel and CAI “negligently stored, handled and/or used combustible solvents that were used in their manufacturing process.”

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigation found the explosion could have been prevented “if CAI/Arnel had installed automatic venting and alarm systems at its Water Street facility,” the lawsuit says.

Both lawsuits seek judgment on one count of negligence in how the companies stored the chemicals, one count of strict liability for what the lawsuit says was “abnormally dangerous activity” near a residential neighborhood, and a count of being a private nuisance in “the defendants’ unreasonable use” of the facility.

A message was left at CAI for Paul Sartorelli, a company owner. An employee of the company said he would not be available until tomorrow.

In November 2007, Kimball Memorials, Pioneer Garage and the Danversport Bakery joined in a lawsuit against the ink and paint companies seeking damages of at least $682,000. Three other complaints were filed by insurance companies looking to recover payments made to property owners, and there is a class action suit on behalf of boat owners whose vessels were destroyed.

Staff writer Julie Manganis contributed to this report.

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