The Bangor Mall’s broken sprinkler system destroyed more than $1.3 million of inventory for Furniture, Mattresses & More, according to a lawsuit filed by the store’s insurance company.
In February 2023, the furniture store alerted Bangor Mall ownership to a ceiling leak in the former Sears. The store was vacant at the time and was being used to store inventory for the furniture business. It took the mall two hours to shut off the water, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Penobscot County Superior Court.
A sprinkler pipe in the ceiling later burst, causing more damage, the lawsuit said. In the months before the water damage, mall ownership “falsely represented” that repairs were made to the sprinkler system, according to the lawsuit.
The furniture store filed an insurance claim for the water damage and was reimbursed just over $1.3 million. Now its insurance provider, Tri-State Insurance Company of Minnesota, is suing the mall to try to recoup costs.
The lawsuit is against the mall’s owners, Namdar Realty Group LLC, Bangor Mall Realty LLC, Bangor CH LLC and Bangor Nassim LLC. It alleges the companies were negligent and “disregarded the frequent enforcement efforts” by the city of Bangor to correct violations. It also alleges the companies “falsely represented” that violations were corrected.
Maine Fire Protection Systems is also being sued for negligence. The lawsuit alleges the company failed to properly maintain and monitor the sprinkler system and alarm system.
Namdar and the fire protection company did not respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit provides new details about the effects that long-deferred repairs at the Bangor Mall have had on the few stores that remain there. The city is embroiled in two lawsuits with the mall, also regarding neglected maintenance at the property, in which a judge ruled that Namdar must pay $1.1 million in fines.
Bangor told mall ownership in March 2020 that the sprinkler system must be tested, with maintenance records and documentation proving the alarm system works, according to the lawsuit.
The city condemned the former Sears two years later due to its lack of heat and working sprinkler system.
Maine Fire Protection “purported to inspect and test the sprinkler system and allegedly found no leaks” and found that the system was “normal” about four months before it broke, according to the lawsuit.
The company was then hired to provide annual alarm monitoring, the lawsuit said. On Nov. 30, 2022, Namdar told the city that heat was restored, the sprinklers were tested and repaired, and a new monitoring system was in place, the lawsuit said.
Namdar told the city the sprinkler system had been tested and there were no deficiencies. At some point the city lifted the store’s condemned status.
After the furniture store’s inventory was damaged, the Bangor Fire Department found the alarm system was not set up for monitoring as the mall had said, the lawsuit said. It added that there were “numerous flaws” in the systems that were supposed to have been corrected.
The fire department’s investigation found that the mall also “mismanaged the systems’ malfunctions and caused the pipes to burst,” and it “mismanaged the response to the water leaks,” the lawsuit said.
The mall “falsely represented that they had corrected the violations” in order to get the city to lift the condemnation order, the lawsuit said.