Tower lawsuit filed

Class action targets firms for fire that destroyed Grenfell

DEFECTS in products made by US companies ignited and fuelled the catastrophic 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London that killed 72 people, according to a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Tuesday they represent the estates of 69 of the 72 people who perished in the residential high-rise fire, and 177 survivors who suffered lifealtering injuries.

The 420-page lawsuit demands a jury trial but does not specify the amount of compensation sought.

The lawyers said the case marks one of the highest number of individual wrongful death and personal injury claims ever brought in a single product liability lawsuit stemming from one incident.

The suit says flammable plastic parts in a refrigerator from Whirlpool ignited the blaze and the flames were swiftly spread by highly combustible materials in the USdesigned insulation and exterior cladding that encased the structure.

Those materials “turned the Grenfell Tower into a cylinder of fire”, Jeffrey Goodman, a lawyer for one of two law firms that brought the case, said.

In addition to Whirlpool, the suit names as defendants cladding supplier Arconic and insulation maker Celotex, a US subsidiary of French multinational Saint-Gobain.

“This case is filed in America to hold the American corporations responsible for the devastation and tragedy they caused,” Mr Goodman said.

Two of the companies involved, Whirlpool and Arconic, issued statements expressing their “deepest sympathy” to the fire’s victims and both said they were cooperating with investigations by British authorities into the tragedy.

Whirlpool told owners of its products “they are safe and they can continue to use them as normal”.

Fire safety experts found the blaze started on the fourth floor of the 24-floor building on June 14, 2017, ignited the exterior cladding and raced up the facade to the top floor within half an hour.