Lawsuit Filed In 1998 Luigi’S Fire Insurance Company’S $1.7 Million Claim Says Restaurant Didn’T Clean Stove Vents

Fri., Oct. 15, 1999

By Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com

An insurance company has filed a $1.7 million lawsuit in the 1998 fire that destroyed Luigi’s, a popular Italian restaurant in downtown Spokane.

United States Fidelity & Guaranty filed the suit last week in U.S. District Court against Luigi’s Downtown Inc.

The corporation operated Luigi’s Italian restaurant, 113 N. Bernard, until it was closed by an extensive kitchen fire on May 22, 1998.

The corporation was operating the restaurant subleased to Matthew Pettit and Martin and Jennifer Hogberg. Only the corporation is named as a defendant in the suit.

The fire was caused by the corporation’s negligence, the suit says.

The insurance company alleges that the restaurant failed to adequately clean stove vents, said Thomas Wolfe, a Seattle attorney representing the insurance carrier.

When a grease fire broke out in the hood and stove vent, a fire suppression system didn’t knock out the flames, which spread throughout the building.

Apartment units above the restaurant were damaged by the fire.

Spokane Fire Marshall Garry Miller said Thursday that fire investigators officially listed the fire as accidentally caused.

Luigi’s was leasing the restaurant space from Larry Brown and the Onion Inc.

United States Fidelity & Guaranty, which is Brown’s insurance company, paid out nearly $1.7 million for property damage, lost rents, business interruption and other losses, the suit says.

The suit is an attempt to recoup those payments from Luigi’s Inc. or its insurance company.

Luigi’s announced plans last December to reopen in another downtown location, 245 W. Main, but that reopening has been postponed.

Luigi’s owner Martin Hogberg couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.

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