The City of Derby agreed to pay $8,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by the owner of construction company regarding a large crane that was damaged after it was allegedly “hot-wired” at the city’s direction.
According to a lawsuit filed by Old Colony Construction, LLC, the company left a 60-ton Bucyrus Erie 30B “truck crane” near the Derby Greenway along the Housatonic River after the company finished a job for the city.
The crane was left in Derby “pending demobilization,” according to the lawsuit.
Information about the job or the specific date the crane was first left in Derby was not available.
According to the lawsuit, the city called Old Colony on July 3, 2013 ordering them to remove the crane immediately.
The crane was in the way of the annual Derby-Shelton Fourth of July fireworks show.
Old Colony sent someone to move the crane, but it had already been moved to a parking lot off lower Caroline Street in front of the M. Jacobs & Sons scrap yard, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleged Derby public works employees had “hot-wired” the crane to get it out of the way. The move caused “significant” damage to the crane, including its clutch and ignition.
Old Colony Construction wanted a judge or jury to award at least $40,000 because of the city’s negligence.
The city, through an attorney, denied the accusations and invited the company to prove them in court.
The crane — which sat in the parking lot off Caroline Street from July 3, 2013 until December 2014 — became almost a running joke at Derby Aldermen meetings because no one could clearly answer Second Ward Alderman Art Gercken’s questions about where it came from or why it was parked in a city lot.
He received vague answers under Mayor Anthony Staffieri’s administration, then requested the city’s lawyers look into the matter after Anita Dugatto was elected mayor.
Old Colony sued Derby in 2015.
The information in Old Colony’s lawsuit differed from a 2013 police report generated in connection to the crane’s removal. In that police report, Old Colony’s owner alleged a local towing company and a local construction company teamed to move the crane at the direction of the city.
The towing company said they received a call from former Mayor Staffieri’s office asking them to immediately move the crane because it was in the way of the fireworks.
Meeting minutes show the Derby Board of Aldermen met in executive session last month to talk about the lawsuit, then authorized a settlement with a public vote. The minutes do not state a dollar amount. Derby’s corporation counsel provided the dollar amount in an email after the meeting.
Emails seeking comment were sent to two lawyers representing Old Colony Construction.
