A local jury on Monday awarded more than $2.2 million in damages for a 1999 explosion at a foil plant. One attorney said the amount might be the highest damages ever awarded in Douglas County.

No one was injured in the Dec. 9, 1999, explosion at API Foils, 3841 Greenway Circle, but API later sued the plant’s previous owner, Connecticut-based Markem Tag, alleging it installed a faulty piece of equipment and didn’t warn API about the problem.

After a six-day trial in Douglas County District Court, jurors found Markem Tag was partially responsible for the blast and ordered it to pay API for repairs, lost income and the cost of having to shift production to different plants.

Bill Skepnek, who represented API along with attorneys from a Chicago firm, said he thought the award was a record amount for Douglas County, though it was difficult to confirm that Monday.

“It was a dangerous thing that happened, and there were a lot of damages, but fortunately nobody got hurt,” he said.

Fire officials said the explosion was caused by flammable vapors in the plant’s ductwork.

The source of the problem was a defective “parts washer,” which uses chemicals to clean machine parts that get dirty during the production process, Skepnek said.

Jurors found Markem Tag “failed to properly design, engineer, install and integrate” the washer into the plant and failed to give proper warning of the dangers it posed.