Angelo Sangiacomo and Yvonne Sangiacomo d.b.a. Trinity Properties v. Vincent Kircher, Gerda Kircher, Khaled Shehaden, Seventh and Market Deli
Published: Apr. 10, 1999 | Result Date: Nov. 30, 1998 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 984366 Verdict – $675,000
Judge
Court
San Francisco Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Daniel L. Rottinghaus
(Berding & Weil LLP)
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
John Moehringer
(technical)
Timothy Callahan
(technical)
Tony Sanchez Correia
(technical)
Steve Saarman
(technical)
Defendant
Jerri Holan
(technical)
Joseph B. Zicherman
(technical)
Facts
On June 18, 1995, in the ground floor retail space of the three story, brick National Hotel building built in 1908, which was owned by the defendants there was a fire of unknown cause. Smoke vented onto and into the plaintiffs' thirteen story, Trinity Building next door. The fire department put out and contained the fire within the retail space. There was at least one hole in the brick wall of the National Hotel, which permitted smoke and heat to vent toward the Trinity Building. The exterior of the Trinity Building adjacent to the hotel consisted of only a soft fire retardant material called CAFCO covered by paper. Heat from the fire and hose stream from the fire department damaged the paper and CAFCO material. Smoke entered the Trinity Building and traveled through out all 13 floors causing interior damage. The plaintiffs brought this action against the defendants based on negligence.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiffs made a settlement demand for $1 million. The defendants offered to pay the $38,000 arbitration award.
Damages
The plaintiffs claimed $939,120 ($544,543 to rebuild the CAFCO wall; $308,903 to perform disability access upgrades; $76,274 for interior and exterior smoke clean up and $9,400 for other repairs)
Other Information
The verdict was reached approximately one year and six months after the case was filed. An arbitration was held on April 23, 1998, before John N. Hauser, resulting in $38,000 award for the plaintiffs which they rejected and appealed de novo. At the time of trial, the plaintiffs had filed a separate action claiming construction defects against the general contractor and various subcontractors. One such defect was failure to seal long linear gaps around the CAFCO material. Smoke entered Trinity Building through these linear gaps. The defendants motions to consolidate the two actions, to permit the filing of cross-complaint and to continue the trial were denied as untimely on the eve of trial. The plaintiffs asked the jury toward $939,00 while the defendants asked the jury to award 2 percent of the damages claimed and find others 98 percent at fault. The Shehaden defendant filed bankruptcy on the first day of trial and did not participate in the trial. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Plaintiff expert, Moe, testified that smoke entered the Trinity Building through the construction defect gaps. Defense expert, Holan, testified that the CAFCO and paper wall was defective, was not a proper four-hour wall and whether the City knowingly approved such system was unclear. City Building Official Richard Young testified that in his approval letter, he referred to a hard plaster wall and that is what he thought he approved and that he did not inspect the space before or during construction.
Deliberation
1½ days
Length
eight days
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