> From: Larry Medina <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> Subject: Re: Lawyer who lost files in Brooklyn blaze suing city for $20M
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 8:35 AM, PeterK <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>> A Manhattan attorney is the first to sue the city for $20 million in a
>> proposed class-action case after he lost 700 boxes of files in a
>> seven-alarm
>> fire that engulfed a Williamsburg warehouse last week.
>> <http://nypost.com/2015/01/31/massive-fire-in-brooklyn-engulfs-warehouse/ <http://nypost.com/2015/01/31/massive-fire-in-brooklyn-engulfs-warehouse/>
Oh where oh where is an attorney who is familiar with NFPA 232??
One might ask, should an attorney or owner dispatch his records manager or himself to perform an inspection of the facility where their records are stored? After all the “Responsible Party” who sets the retention period, destruction dates and manages the records is the one who is responsible for checking the “Protection of Records” requirements for the storage facility.
Did this attorney perform his due diligence? If he did not investigate the procedures for when a fire occurs and the sprinkler system works perfectly and then the fire department leaves the site with the sprinkler system off, what were his responsibilities??
Where was this attorney or his records manager when they were appointed “The Authority Having Jurisdiction” or; is he even familiar with this NFPA 232 Protection of Records Standard. If he does not even know the Standard, isn’t that alone negligence as it is the controlling Standard. “Protection of Records” is its name. I suggest all attorney’s and their records managers read NFPA 232 in depth.
What if he wins a judgement in Court for say X amount per box. Then will this verdict come back to bite him because he failed to inspect the warehouse, he did not even know what the requirements for the warehouse are and so on. Would he not bear part of the burden due to negligence?
In fact, the records managers/responsible parties are now the “Authority Having Jurisdiction” so should he have run down to the records center to perform his own fire watch? (If I had something in a box worth $28,000 I would have run down there with my own fire extinguisher. Not really. Only fire fighters are brave enough to do this for us.)
$28,570 per box ( $20 million divided by 700) might be hard to prove?? But would not the Court then put a large portion back on him for his role in the loss? After all his loss is really his clients’ loss??
I am not an attorney, but the Owners of records, their Responsible Parties have a responsibility here. If these records were “Vital” should this attorney have kept a copy as redundant storage as one method of protecting vital records. Should the firm have kept a copy electronically as many other clients did? Where are the back up tapes? Is it in the Cloud? If so, is this lawsuit premature?
Box records are not vaulted typically. They are stored under a sprinkler system and that is “State of the art” for box records. In this facility, the sprinkler system worked just as it was supposed to. So it would seem the fault lies with the records managers and owners who somehow failed to perform their responsible party due diligence. Otherwise, they would have inspected the site and required changes or requested their boxes be given back to them. The very fact they were sitting there under a sprinkler head shows tacit inspection and acceptance of this methodology. If they failed to inspect and now claim a higher level of protection, this speaks to their own failure to know the Standard and make the required fire inspection.
A wonderful discussion for records manager on a day where being inside is a gift.
I recommend that everyone on this Listserve obtain a current copy of NFPA 232. Larry has been warning you since 2007 to inspect your records storage facilities and to become familiar with Fire Safety and Records Center design requirements. You are “The Responsible Party”.
Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
[log in to unmask]
(610) 756-4440 Fax (610) 756-4134
WWW.FIRELOCK.COM
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