Fire at 1061 Allen Street on November 16, 2022 (Photo by Jamestown Professional Firefighters Local 137)
Artone Manufacturing’s insurance agency has filed a lawsuit to recover damage costs to the building caused by a fire at the neighboring site in November 2022.
Selective Insurance Company of New York is seeking $1,271,668 from Allen Street Development LLC after the company’s building at 1061 Allen Street burned down in an arson fire on November 16, 2022. The insurance company said in the suit filed in State Supreme Court of Chautauqua County that “embers, smoke and soot associated with the Fire spread to the Artone Building, resulting in significant damage to the Artone Building.”
The lawsuit also laid out the back history of the building under Allen Street Development (ASD) that included the information that ASD and its owners, Richard and Patricia Rusiniak, had been cited by the City of Jamestown and other government agencies for the building being unsafe and a hazard. They said the Rusiniaks failed to maintain the building, failed to secure the building from people trespassing, and failed to comply with building codes which resulted in the building becoming a “fire hazard and haven for criminal activity.”
Selective Insurance Company is seeking a jury trial in order to collected the damages in the amount of $1.2 million as well as pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest, attorney fees, costs and such other relief as this Court finds just and proper.
The City of Jamestown had attempted to recoup costs associated with the fire at 1061 Allen Street but only was successful in receiving $5,000 from fines assigned by Jamestown Housing Court. Those funds were used to install specialized decontamination equipment at Jamestown Fire Station 1.
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