By Ali McNally, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER – One of the largest fires in Aurora has history resulted in an $18 million verdict against a security systems company with an office in Greenwood Village.
The judgment, entered last week in Adams County District Court, with pre-judgment interest, could result in almost $33 million for the insurance companies involved. On Aug. 18, a seven-person jury returned the verdict against Sonitrol Security Systems, and Adams District Judge Katherine Delgado last week entered the verdict.
Sonitrol could not be immediately reached to say whether it will appeal the verdict.
The case stemmed from an arson fire in an Aurora warehouse off I-70 and Chambers Road in December 2002 that resulted in part from a failed audio-based security system installed in the building.
Sonitrol’s security system used tiny microphones in corners of entrances and windows. Convicted burglar and arsonist David Ottersberg, then 28, used a battery-operated chain saw to cut through the wooden door into the warehouse, which stored convenience store items like candy, cigarettes and cold tablets – a base ingredient Ottersberg used to make methamphetamine. He also tore away pieces of the door with his hands and kicked it apart to break in.
“There was an audio sensor mounted 18 feet away from where he broke in,” said Thomas Dunford, a partner at Denver law firm Cozen O’Connor who represented the tenant’s insurance companies, the plaintiffs, in trial. “It never activated.”
When noises reach above a certain decibel level, the Sonitrol system is designed to trigger an audio activation causing the alarm panel to connect to an off-site central monitoring station in Texas. But Sonitrol service records showed the system’s sound sensitivity in the warehouse was turned down the night of the burglary, Dunford said.
Ottersberg and two others were able to steal carloads of snacks and cold tablets before setting the place ablaze using flammable items — including lighter fluid and concentrated window-washing fluid — they found in the warehouse. The alarm still never activated. The Aurora Fire Department was called by locals who saw smoke from the building.
“There were 19 calls to the fire department before Sonitrol called in an alarm for the fire,” Dunford said.
The fire consumed an estimated $20 million in damages and caused a slight delay in deliveries to local convenience stores, according a Rocky Mountain News report from the time.
“It was certainly one of the largest fires, and had some of the most costs in damages,” said Aurora Fire Department spokesman Allen Robnett.
