On March 8, 2022, a fire ripped through a Penn Waste recycling facility in Manchester Township, York County, knocking it out of commission.
- Now, three Penn Waste insurers are suing local contractors involved in building the facility and installing its sprinkler system.
- The insurers, which include Connecticut-based XL Insurance, are seeking to recover $26 million in damages from York-based Kinsley Construction, York-based Susquehanna Automatic Sprinklers Inc. and Code Administrators Inc., an inspection company in East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County.
Why: In a lawsuit filed earlier this year in York County court, the insurers allege the contractors were negligent in the design, installation and maintenance of the sprinkler system.
- A rechargeable battery improperly sent for recycling was fingered as the cause of the fire, according to a story in Recycling Today about the rebuilding of the plant.
- But in their lawsuit, the insurers claim that the fire could have been doused in “its incipient stage” and damage limited had sprinklers been designed and installed correctly.
- The other insurers on the lawsuit are Liberty Mutual affiliate Liberty Specialty Markets Bermuda and Faraday Syndicate 365, a London-based company that is part of Berkshire Hathaway.
- They have paid out more than $21.2 million to cover damages to and replacement of the Penn Waste facility but said the total damages exceeded $26 million, according to the lawsuit.
- Kinsley general counsel Jennifer Breneman declined to comment, citing the litigation, as did an attorney for Susquehanna Automatic Sprinkler, James Scott of law firm Wade Clark Mulcahy LLP in Philadelphia.
- A person answering the phone at Code Administrators declined to comment.
- Both Kinsley and Code Administrators have filed responses to the lawsuit.
What do they say: Code Administrators argues it is immune from liability because it was working at the time on behalf of a local government, Manchester Township.
- In a filing last week, the inspection company cites previous cases upholding the immunity of building inspectors and argued that the insurers’ case against it should be dismissed.
- In a separate filing, Kinsley denies the allegations, rejects the claim that it was negligent and denies that it violated any codes or regulations or caused any damage to the facility.
The background: Penn Waste is a subsidiary of Texas-based Waste Connections.
- Penn Waste rebuilt the Manchester Township plant and reopened it in March 2023 with new recycling technology and updated fire-suppression equipment, according to Recycling Today.
- Waste Connections also launched a public-education campaign called “Don’t Start the Fire” designed to keep rechargeable batteries out of the recycling stream.
