ST. LOUIS — A Massachusetts-based company facing a northwestern St. Louis suburban condominium association's product liability lawsuit, stemming from a lightning-caused fire last year, wants the case to be heard in federal court.
Defendant Titeflex Corporation, whose parent company is Smiths Group International Holdings, filed its notice of removal on Nov. 21 in the U.S. District Court for Missouri's Eastern District. The case has not yet been assigned to a district court judge.
Titeflex, based in Springfield, Massachusetts, faces a lawsuit filed in October in the St. Louis County Circuit Court by the Chapel Ridge Condominium Association in Hazelwood following a fire in April of last year. The association claims the lightning strike that reportedly caused the fire was exacerbated by the type of corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) previously installed at the condominium location.
The lawsuit refers to unnamed members of "the CSST industry" who have sworn that during "a lightening event" electricity will arc to yellow-jacketed CSST (YCSST), causing holes in the YCSST through which gas can escape and fuel a fire. That electrical interaction between CSST and YCSST poses risks to homeowners and building owners, according to the lawsuit.
YCSST can fail at 0.1 coulombs of electrical charge, according to the lawsuit.
"The CSST industry, including defendant Titeflex, recognized the danger of YCSST and no longer sell or market YCSST," the lawsuit said. "The CSST industry, including defendant Titeflex, now manufacture and market black jacketed conductive CSST (BCSST) which can allegedly withstand at least electrical currents of 6 coulombs before failure, according to BCSST manufacturers."
Despite the difference in electrical charge endurance between YCSST and BCSST, neither the CSST industry nor Titeflex has recalled YCSST "nor warned millions of property owners of the known dangers and design flaws in the product," the lawsuit said.
The condominium association is asking for damages on multiple counts in excess of $25,000 each for liability, negligence, breach of implied warranty and other allegations, in addition to a jury trial.