Inspection company
settles claim over
Hilton mold

Special Inspection Consultants Inc. agreed yesterday to settle a claim against it over a mold infestation that closed Hilton Hawaiian Village's $95 million Kalia Tower for a year.

The company, which inspected the tower and signed off on its structural design, agreed during mediation to pay $190,000 to Hilton, according to state Circuit Court records.

The inspection company is not part of on an ongoing lawsuit filed last spring by Hilton Hawaiian Village and its parent company. More than a dozen local and mainland construction and design companies are named in that suit.

The lawsuit says that after closing the 453-room Kalia Tower, Hilton found several design and construction defects that were "substantial factors" leading to a $56 million mold infestation. The tower, as designed, basically acted as a giant vacuum that sucked in humid outside air because of low internal pressure.

The eight-count lawsuit goes after the firms involved in the planning and design of the tower as well as its construction. The design companies being sued are architects Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo Inc.; engineering consultants Notkin Hawaii Inc., Ferris & Hamig Hawaii Inc. and Douglas V. MacMahon Inc.; and consultant Frank Lum.

The construction-related companies that were sued are Group Builders Inc., Air Balance Hawaii Inc., Dorvin D. Leis Co., Rolf Jensen & Associates Inc., Dryvit Systems Inc., Brewer Environmental Industries LLC, Caulking Hawaii Inc., International Environmental Corp., the Erection Co., A-1 A-Lectricians Inc., Kawneer Co. and Kevin Y.F. Chong.