Bangladesh factory fire kills
48 workers
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| In December 1980, a fire broke out in the Stouffer's
Inn in Westchester County, N.Y. , killing 26 people.
Among the fatalities were 13 high-ranking executives
of Arrow Electron-ics Inc., then the nation's second
largest electronics distributor. Employee stock options,
deferred compensation payments, survivor death benefits,
additional accounting costs, hiring replacements and
personnel relo-cation charges resulting from the deaths
cost Arrow Electronics more than $5.5 million pre-tax,
or approximately $3 million in net after-tax, expenses.
As a result, Arrow Electronics' 1980 earn-ings fell
from $5.5 million in the year before the disastrous
hotel fire to $5.27 million, despite a substantial one-third
increase in company revenues. Debt and losses mounted,
and it took Arrow Electronics nearly a decade to reestablish
its operating profitability |
| Arrow sued the owners of the inn,
the Stouffer Corporation, and the William L. Crow
Construction Company, which had been retained
by Stouffers for the planning, design and construction
of the inn, and a firm of consulting engineers
who performed the mechanical engineering and electrical
work on the inn. |
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Arrow alleged that in October 1980, Stouffers agreed
to rent guest and meeting rooms to Arrow for its senior
level management annual budget meetings to be held
between November 30, and December 6, 1980. Arrow also
alleged that the agreement implied that the rooms
were suitable and safe, reasonably free of fire hazards,
and reasonably equipped with devices to minimize the
danger of fire. Arrow sought $5,000,000 compensatory
damages plus $5,000,000 punitive damages for the loss
of its management; costs of recruiting new employees;
loss of books, records, and papers; death benefits
paid to the widows and estates of deceased employees;
and lost profits
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Fires |
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