Grenfell Tower residents to seek damages in US court

Several survivors of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire and the relatives of some of the 72 residents who perished when the 24-floor building went up in flames are setto launch a legal action in the United States against three companies they blame for the disaster.

The BBC reported on Monday that more than 100 people are taking part in the lawsuit.

Other survivors, however, have refused to participate and are saying they fear the trial could distract from the ongoing public enquiry in the United Kingdom, from the British criminal investigation, and from the blame they want to attach to the local government that owns the now-derelict building: Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council.

One Grenfell Tower survivor said on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire program: "We respect those that wish to take action in the US, and we respect those that don't wish to."

The two-year statute of limitations in the US means a civil case would need to be launched now in order to be heard.

The ongoing public inquiry into the disaster, which happened on June 14, 2017 and which caused the largest single-incident loss of civilian lives in London since World War II,has heard that a small kitchen fire in an apartment in the West London building penetrated a uPVC window and ignited cladding and insulation on the outside of the building that had been installed in 2016 as part of a 10-million-pound ($12.7 million) refurbishment.

The speed that the fire spread once it had reached the cladding, and its ferocity, attracted much comment in the aftermath of the fire.

The Grenfell group is understood to be seeking damages from refrigerator supplier Whirlpool, cladding maker Arconic, and insulation maker Celotex, the BBC reported.

The Daily Mail said the residents' group could be expecting damages in the range of hundreds of millions of pounds, given that a 2013 lawsuit following the collapse of a building that killed seven people was settled for almost 180 million pounds.

Lawyers representing the Grenfell group are expected to file their lawsuit this week in Philadelphia under product liability law, which holds enterprises accountable for injuries caused by defects in goods they have sold.

The Grenfell group is launching its legal action in Philadelphia because two of the companies named in the suit, Arconic and Celotex, have US headquarters in the city.

The case is likely to last several years and will start with an initial judgment that will probably be made in the next six months on whether the case should be heard or not. If the case is deemed suitable to be heard in full, a jury trial would likely start around a year and a half later.