Steve Lattanzio

Insurance Recovery Investigation

In an insurance case involving hurricane damage to a large manufacturing plant, we received over 100 GB of data from the client. This involved photos, cost estimates, repair estimates for each piece of major equipment, weather data, depositions, building investigation reports and other related information.

We organized and sorted the data so the hurricane damage to each of 2100 pieces of equipment could be evaluated against wind damage and flood damage. The equipment included large cranes, roll presses, CNC Machines, industrial lathes, boring machines and others. The equipment was sorted by type of equipment, building damage and location within the building to aid in this evaluation.

Each component of the machine was evaluated in its sensitivity to moisture and the repairs required to repair the machine. We were therefore able to determine the exact components of the machine that were damaged by the wind driven rain and the components that were only damaged by the flood waters.

Chemical Plant Survey

A large chemical plant had to be surveyed for asbestos. In a typical survey for asbestos in a building or a school, one would simply identify the suspect materials and note the location and condition and take samples of homogeneous areas to develop an asbestos survey and management plan. A chemical manufacturing plant is something quite different. A plant with a long history has gone through continuous development. The asbestos and non-asbestos materials in many cases are very similar in texture and color. We therefore, using the drawings and dates of the installation of the equipment and collected samples of each homogeneous area. Once the samples were analyzed, we went back and only assessed the materials that came back positive for asbestos.

Pressure Relief Valve

An equipment manufacturing company was designing a high-pressure gas test facility in an area that had noise sensitivity issues. This test facility required air pressure relief valves to protect the equipment. Due to the high pressure of the system the calculated relief velocities exceeded the sound barrier and therefore had to be sent through a silencer that did not impede the flow of the relief stream. Calculations were performed that met both the relief requirements and the noise requirements.

Owner’s Representative

I performed duties as an Owner’s Representative for a large manufacturer of building products in a multi-state product liability lawsuit. I investigated the issues and assisted with the development of the scope of work which later became a model for over $500,000,000 in claims. I also assisted with the settlement negotiations of large home builders. I assisted with the negotiation and selection of the final General Contractor. I helped negotiated fees and incentives to streamline the entire process. Once the process began, I inspected houses for verification. I reviewed the contractor’s cost estimates and verified that the scope of work met the model agreement. As the work progressed, I review payment requests from the General contractor and reviewed change orders requests.

Reestablishment of Clear Water Sewer

A chemical manufacturing plant had two sewer systems, a storm sewer and a process sewer that were in the past combined into a single sewer. Years later, added development caused the combine flow of the sewer exceed the design capacity of the treatment system during some storm events.

An investigation of the feasibility of separating at least a portion of the storm sewer was conducted. As no as-built copies of the complete sewer system were available, each manhole and source had to be mapped out.

After a complete update of the sewer maps, it was discovered that a neighboring property that was allowed to tie into the system also recently built a large warehouse that tied into the system. It was this stream, that was diverted to a new storm sewer system.