Omega Flex, Inc. (NASDAQ: OFLX) announced that the Company secured a successful federal jury verdict in American Automobile Insurance Company a/s/o Kostecki v Omega Flex, Inc. The case involved an April 2010 lightning fire to a house in High Ridge, Missouri. The homeowners’ insurance company, American Automobile Insurance Company (AAIC), sued Omega Flex alleging that lightning burned a hole through the Company’s TracPipe® corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) and caused a fire. The jury unanimously found for OmegaFlex on all counts and awarded AAIC nothing in damages.
The case involved a lightning strike to a tree near a home. AAIC alleged that the lightning energy travelled from the tree into the house and burned a hole through the TracPipe CSST, releasing gas and causing a fire. OmegaFlex proved that AAIC’s claims were false and, in fact, the damage to the CSST pipe was caused after the fire had already started. The jury unanimously found that Omega Flex was not negligent in designing, testing, and manufacturing TracPipe and that TracPipe is not a defective product.
After years of use by millions of homeowners the evidence proves TracPipe® CSST is not uniquely susceptible to damage from a lightning current that may enter a home. In fact, CSST has a superior overall safety record as compared to other appliances or equipment. OmegaFlex will continue to vigorously defend itself against frivolous claims about its safety.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO HOMEBUILDERS, CONTRACTORS, PLUMBERS, ELECTRICIANS AND CODE/FIRE PROFESSIONALS:
Safety is OmegaFlex’s top priority, which is why the Company developed CounterStrike® — its next generation CSST product designed to be even more resistant to damage from transient electrical arcing. OmegaFlex leads the way in industry innovation and its CounterStrike gas piping product protects against arcing from an indirect lightning strike without the need for additional bonding – protection that no yellow CSST product can offer.
About TracPipe® CounterStrike® CSST
TracPipe® CounterStrike® from Omega Flex, Inc. is designed to be more resistant to damage from transient electrical arcing than conventional gas piping materials. In a lightning strike, the electrical energy of the lightning can energize all electrical and mechanical components in a building. This electrical energy, in attempting to reach ground, may arc between systems that have different electrical potential, and arcing can cause damage to any of these systems. TracPipe® CounterStrike® is designed with an electrically conductive jacket to dissipate this energy, protecting the gas-carrying stainless steel core.
About Omega Flex, Inc.
Established in 1975, Omega Flex, Inc. is the pre-eminent international producer of flexible metallic piping products. With more than 90 patents registered worldwide, Omega Flex® supplies proprietary products for a broad number of applications and markets, which include primary steel production, semi-conductor, medical, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, residential, residential and commercial construction, and power generation.
Omega Flex®, TracPipe®, CounterStrike® and AutoFlare® are registered trademarks of Omega Flex, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information, visit www.omegaflex.com.
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