LOST IN FIRE, forwarded

[Richard Boyden <richard.boyden@sanbruno.nara.gov>]

FYI - from ARCHIVES listserv:

Wall Street Journal 12/09/97
Section B page 17 column 3
<snip>
PRUDENTIAL EXECUTIVES' PAPERS WERE LOST IN FIRE
by Scot J. Paltrow
Newark, NJ - Prudential Insurance Co. of Ameica disclosed that records
destroyed in a warehouse fire included 500 boxes of documents from
the offices of senior executives at the company's headquarters.

The disclosure came in a 21-page report filed Firday with U.S District
Judge Alfred M. Wolin here concerning a May 5 fire at a records-storage
warehouse owned by Diversified Records Services Inc. in West Pittston,
Pa. The judge had demanded the report after a Wall Street Journal
article in November disclosed that the fire destroyed thousands of boxes
of records covered by a document-retention order he had issued in
connection with a lawsuit brought by some policyholders against the
insurer.

Prudential's report said the executives' documents that burned were also
covered by the judge's do-not-destroy order. Last month, Prudential had
said the burned material included customer complaint files, agent
disciplinary records, sales material and correspondence with state
insurance departments. But the company hadn't mentioned that senior
executives' files also were destroyed.
<snip>
<snip>
Lawyers for several of these policy-holders said the documents now
disclosed to have come from the offices of Prudential executives could
have relevance in the pending lawsuits that allege senior officials of
the insurer knew of the sales practices for years, but didn't take steps
to stop them.

Prudential's report didn't identify the executives whose records were
burned, but said many of them had "supervisory responsibility" over
Prudential business units. A Prudential spokesman declined to identify
them. Pennsylvania state investigators list the cause of the fire as
"undetermined," although Prudential said in the report it believes the
fire was accidental.

Prudential's report didn't contain any response to questions raised by
Judge Wolin about why the company hadn't notified the court in writing
about the loss of the documents in the fire. Lawyers for some
policyholders have asked the judge to impose stiff sanctions on
Prudential's attorneys for their disclosure steps.

In a Nov. 12 letter rebuking the company, the judge held out the
possibility that he will impose penalties. Prudential has said it
notified the judge's chambers by phone of the loss the day after the
fire, and gave a written report to the lead plaintiff's lawyer in the
class-action suit.<snip>

Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Woodside Summit Group, Inc.
Richmond, Va
Kurilecz_PA@vdot.state.va.us

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