New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Something in the air?
Building owners looking for HVAC upgrades
As coronavirus cases and deaths soared in early April, Farmingtonbased United Technologies completed a merger two years in the making with aerospace rival Raytheon, while spinning off its Carrier division as an independent company along with Otis Elevator.
As commercial building owners across the globe turn their attention to the air that fills their office spaces, it is Carrier that may possess the best long-term profile of any of the former UTC businesses.
Companies that install and maintain heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems say they are seeing a surge in queries for upgrades, which can range from putting better filters in existing units to installing the latest products — like those that ionize air with molecules that act as magnets for any freefloating viruses.
As of Friday, shares in Carrier Global Corp. were up nearly 40 percent, a gain bested by just four other publicly traded corporations with headquarters or major operations in Connecticut. (Carrier established its main office in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., after its UTC departure.)
Manufacturers like Carrier, Lennox, Rheem and Trane have been stepping up their development of new models, in anticipation of new air ventilation requirements, in schools, offices, hotels — any place looking to pluck harmful microbes out of the air.
“In the past two weeks I’ve talked to some builders, and everything’s been going to HEPA (high-efficiency particulate arrestance) filtration ... something that will — 100 percent — be eliminating any contaminants in the air,” said Jeremy Coffin, a product manager with New York-based Day & Nite Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Service. “The problem is, it is very
STAMFORD — The judge overseeing OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy case approved Wednesday a claims-filing extension to July 30 for individuals who believe they were harmed by the company’s opioids.
Purdue and a 24-state “non-consenting” group including Connecticut that have not agreed to settlement terms with the firm concurred that the original June 30 deadline needed to be pushed back to take into account the disruption of the coronavirus crisis. Purdue had argued for the 30day extension, while the non-consenting states pushed for a Sept. 30 deadline.
“The form and manner of notice of the extended general bar date as approved herein … in the form and manner as proposed by the debtors (Purdue) herein is fair and reasonable and will provide good, sufficient and due notice to all creditors of their rights and obligations in connection with claims they may assert,” Judge Robert Drain said in the
written order, after holding earlier Wednesday a phone hearing on the matter.
In a statement, Purdue said that the July 30 deadline “balances our compassion for anyone who may have been impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns with the goal of providing the public benefits from a Purdue settlement as soon as possible.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said that “this is less than we had requested, but an important extension giving all who have been harmed by Purdue additional time to file claims and seek justice.”
After having allocated approximately $24 million for a national advertising campaign launched in February that has notified people about the claims filing, Purdue has estimated it would incur another $700,000 for the notices with a July 30 deadline.
As of May 21, approximately 6,800 personal-injury forms had been filed, while about 4,200 potential personal-injury claims had been filed with other forms, according to the Prime Clerk website that collects Purdue’s bankruptcy records. Connecticut accounted for 163 submissions.
In addition, more than 27,000 people represented by the Ad Hoc Group of Individual Victims are planning to file claims, according to Edward Neiger, a Manhattanbased attorney who represents the group.
Private citizens’ claims would be handled alongside the approximately 3,000 lawsuits filed against Purdue by local and state governments that allege the company fueled the opioid crisis with deceptive OxyContin marketing. Purdue denies those accusations.
The individual payouts would not change the total settlement value, which Purdue has pegged at more than $10 billion. The total amount paid out to individuals would be determined through the bankruptcy process.
About two-dozen states have accepted the company’s proposed settlement, which was announced when the company filed for bankruptcy last September.
Any comprehensive settlement would also require the support of the non-consenting states.
Tong has expressed doubts about the feasibility of Purdue’s plan and said it does not go far enough to tackle the opioid crisis. He has not said publicly how much he thinks the company should pay.