Insurers aren't happy with this exhaust fan maker — and have filed a slew of lawsuits
Four pending suits are demanding more than $2 million in damages from Broan-Nutone over a March 2021 fire in a shopping center in New Jersey.
A maker of bathroom exhaust fans is fighting at least a dozen suits in New Jersey courts alleging that its product caused fires.
The suits say Broan-Nutone fans started fires that caused significant property damage to an apartment complex, a shopping center, a restaurant and several homes.
Most of the suits are filed by insurance companies that made payouts to policyholders and then sought to recoup those funds from Broan-Nutone.
Broan-Nutone did not respond to a request for comment about the fire-related litigation.
The latest suit claims a Broan-Nutone bathroom exhaust fan started a fire that caused $1.1 million in damages to an apartment complex in Millburn.
Franklin Mutual Insurance Co., represented by James P. Cullen Jr. of Methfessel & Werbel in Edison, New Jersey, sued Broan-Nutone in Essex County Superior Court after paying the complex’s owner for water, smoke and fire damage.
Broan-Nutone’s attorney at Faegre, Drinker, Biddle & Reath removed the suit to federal court in Newark on Thursday.
Faegre Drinker’s Justin Ginter declined to comment on the suit. He and others at Faegre Drinker represent Broan-Nutone in at least seven active suits in New Jersey involving allegations that the company’s fans started fires.
Franklin Mutual’s suit claims Broan-Nutone failed to design the fan properly, failed to manufacture it safely, used inferior components in the fan motor, failed to provide adequate coil insulation in the fan motor and used components which were incapable of being safely used under anticipated conditions.
Four pending suits are demanding more than $2 million in damages from Broan-Nutone over a March 2021 fire in a shopping center in Lakewood, New Jersey. According to the suits, the fire started in a Broan-Nutone exhaust fan installed in the restroom at Buy Rite Discount Liquors.
Ohio Security Insurance Co. filed a $1.4 million subrogation claim against Broan-Nutone on behalf of the liquor store owner; Hartford Mutual Insurance Co., insurance carrier for the shopping center owner, sued Broan-Nutone for $850,000; Harleysville Insurance, which insured a pizza parlor in the center, sued Broan-Nutone for $86,000; and the same pizza parlor filed its own suit against the company, seeking $75,000. Faegre Drinker represents Broan-Nutone in those cases too.
No one was injured in the shopping center fire, but it caused extensive smoke and water damage, according to a published report.
Broan-Nutone is also facing litigation from Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Co. over a fire at Local Bar & Kitchen, a restaurant in Gibbstown, New Jersey, where a February 2022 fire in the men’s restroom was allegedly caused by the company’s exhaust fan.
The suit does not specify the amount of damages. Cullen of Methfessel & Werbel represents the insurance carrier, and Ginter represents Broan-Nutone.
Elsewhere, Liberty Mutual Mid-Atlantic Insurance Co. is seeking $126,178 from Broan-Nutone in a suit in federal court stemming from a 2018 fire in the home of William and Janet Hopkins in Mount Holly, New Jersey, that is attributed to a Broan-Nutone bathroom ceiling exhaust fan.
Benedict F. Valliere of the Law Offices of Frank A. Viscomi in Scranton, Pennsylvania, represents Liberty Mutual in that case, and Goldberg Segalla’s Christopher Midura represents Broan-Nutone.
Broan-Nutone’s fans have drawn the attention of federal regulators.
In 2016, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled various models of the company’s products because of a fire hazard.
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