County held liable for faulty fireplace work

Bill Gang

Friday, Feb. 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The Clark County Building Department has been spanked in court for letting an apartment complex be constructed with fireplaces that fell apart, putting the lives of over 600 people at risk.

A District Court jury on Thursday said the county is liable for $162,000 that it cost to replace the more than 100 metal chimneys at the Royal Palms Apartments, at 5711 W. Tropicana Ave.

The county earlier had rejected an offer to settle the case for $10,000, said attorney John Netzorg, who represented PKIC, a California partnership that had purchased the 224-unit complex in 1990.

The county's attorney, Gloria Sturman, admitted that the decision was made to go to trial because the county "didn't want to open the floodgate" of complaints about the building inspectors ... "to go on Channel 4 (county cable channel) and admit they screwed up."

Sturman said that "clearly there were problems with the fireplaces" and indicated that the adverse verdict "doesn't surprise the county."

She added that she is gratified that the jury determined the apartment owners had to bear 20 percent of the responsibility for the fireplace problems.

Not doing jobs

"Obviously inspectors aren't doing their jobs," said juror Rhonda Royal after the unanimous verdict in District Judge Myron Leavitt's courtroom. "It's scary because I have a fireplace."

Netzorg said trial testimony indicated that building inspectors "haven't closely inspected any metal fireplaces" in homes or apartments throughout the county.

"Anyone with a wood burning fireplace in Clark County would be wise to have it inspected," the attorney continued.

"It's a community-at-large issue," added Paul King, the managing partner of PKIC, which has since sold the Royal Palms Apartments.

Sturman said that because of the heavy workload at the building department, "the county can't perform such inspections."

She noted that there currently are $2 billion in construction projects ongoing that require the attention of an inadequate number of inspectors.

In the trial, testimony showed that in 1988 building inspectors let improperly installed fireplaces -- with inadequate bracing and no fire stops between floors -- be sealed behind sheet rock and stucco.

No storm collars

No storm collars were installed on any of the 136 fireplaces, allowing rain water to flood the apartments.

Many of the flues separated, letting the heat char timbers, melt foam insulation and peel paint on the outside of the stucco.

No fires resulted but King said that was "one spark away."

The problem originally was detected in 1991 by a chimney sweep, and repairs were supposed to have been made by the original contractor at the direction of the Nevada Contractor's Board.

Testimony showed only a portion of the job was done yet the building department sent a letter to King stating that all life-threatening repairs had been completed.

Tenants, who had been denied the use of their fireplaces but were given rent rebates because of it, were again allowed to burn logs.

It wasn't until 1994 that it was discovered that the repairs hadn't been done and the building department hadn't made an adequate inspection.

One inspector testified that he had been ordered by his supervisors not to cut holes in walls to ensure the repairs had been done correctly.

In the end, every chimney in the 20 building complex had to be replaced.

Settlements reached

Before the lawsuit against the county was filed, PKIC reached settlements with the original contractor and the fireplace installation firm for the chimney problems and other construction defects.

The amount of the settlements was nearly $180,000, and Sturman has argued that should be credited against what the county owes -- in essence making the county the financial winner in the trial.

Netzorg agreed that perhaps $90,000 could be deducted from what the county was ordered to pay.

But he said the other settlement funds were to cover botched work by the original contractor in other areas, like air conditioning vents.

Judge Leavitt said he will decide the issue at a later hearing.