An Athens company drops its lawsuit against the city over fire training mishap
By: Thomas Billington
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — An Athens property owner dropped its lawsuit against the city nearly two years after filing it.
East State Street Development sued over a fire training mishap at the State Side Technology Park in 2023. The incident involved firefighters from Athens Fire Department and other local departments using the parking area outside the building on East State Street where QuidelOrtho is located. The lawsuit alleged that East State had not given permission to use their parking lot for the training.
As a part of the training, the fire departments hooked up to the private water supply of the building. While running the training, the departments caused a “‘water hammer event’ where pressurized water was forced back into East State’s building causing the internal water lines to burst and flood the Property,” the lawsuit alleged.
East State Development sued the city a year after the incident, seeking reimbursement for the damage.
The case had been working its way through the courts until last month, when East State Development filed a voluntary dismissal of the case without a settlement. The decision has left city officials puzzled, as Law Director Lisa Eliason said the city had depositions scheduled for the week after the dismissal.
WOUB reached out to East State Street Development and its owners, Thomas Parfitt and Brent Hayes, for comment, but did not hear back by the time this story was published.