Heavy smoke billows out of the former A.B Coker Co building, 1927 Moodie Road, about 6 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008. Lawrence firefighters poured water on the building, which was to be the home for an off-site brewing and packaging facility for downtown's Free State Brewery. Heavy water and smoke damage occurred.

An insurance company for the Free State Brewing Co. has filed a lawsuit against several companies alleging their negligence contributed to a 2008 electrical fire at its east Lawrence brewing facility.

According to a petition filed in Douglas County District Court earlier this month, the plaintiffs allege the building’s owner, JDS Enterprises of Lawrence, and other defendants were negligent in the design, engineering, constructing, manufacturing and supervision of the electrical system at the building at 1923 Moodie Road.

“The fire … directly and proximately caused substantial damage to plaintiff’s property and interrupted its business operations, creating lost profits,” plaintiff’s attorney Mark A. Ferguson wrote in the petition.

Fire investigators have said an Oct. 5, 2008, fire in the building caused about $1 million in structural and equipment damage to the building. At the time Free State was in the process of overhauling the 12,000-square-foot facility to expand the company’s production capacity beyond its operation at 636 Mass.

About a year ago, Free State was able to begin operating out of the building and had a public open house last weekend.

Other defendants are electrical contractor E&E Electric Inc. of Baldwin City; Hughes Machinery of Overland Park, which sold Free State equipment and machinery; contractor Elements Design Build of Lawrence; and, an unknown manufacturer of a component part that failed. According to the suit, more discovery will reveal the identity of the company.

Ferguson said Free State’s insurance company satisfied its obligation by paying claims but that it was part of the policy to then pursue payment from parties believed to be liable for the fire. He declined to comment further on Wednesday.

“It was not an action that we undertook, but insurance companies are involved in the process,” said Chuck Magerl, Free State’s proprietor.

Free State is listed as the plaintiff in the suit.

Fire investigators in 2008 ruled the accidental fire was caused by a loose connection to an air compressor that helped burn a room the size of a small office. The compressor was plugged into an industrial outlet, but the fire marshal’s office at the time did not determine if the defect came during installation, the use of the outlet or if it was a problem with the product.

But in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege they “did not know that the normal use of the air compressor was a fire hazard.”

“The fire was a direct and proximate result of the defective branch electrical circuitry in the property, the plug in electrical receptacle and the air compressor plug and cord combination. All other reasonable causes of the fire have been negated,” Ferguson wrote.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants should have known that the electrical systems and component parts “created an unreasonable and hazardous condition due to the possibility of catching fire” when the compressor was used.

The suit asks for damages in excess of $75,000, which is typical to satisfy a statutory requirement when lawsuits are filed in Kansas.