SEOUL, The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered three companies to pay about 28.38 billion won (US$21.82 million) to Samsung SDS Co., an IT service company, in compensation for a 2014 fire at its data center.
The top court upheld an appellate court's ruling in the lawsuit filed by Samsung SDS against Hanwha Aerospace Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daesung Tech over the blaze that hit the building in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, on April 20, 2014.
The fire started from a power generator on the roof of an annex building at noon, quickly spread to the data center, and was extinguished by the evening.
The accident caused services of Samsung Group's financial affiliates to be disrupted for four days. No casualties were reported.
The three companies were responsible for constructing a flue system for the generator.
Samsung SDS sought damages of 58.36 billion won, claiming the flue may have caused the fire.
Initially, a lower court rejected SDS' claim. But an appeals court overturned the ruling after discovering that there may have been defects in the system and that the flue caught fire during a test run in 2012 but was not repaired.
Source: Yonhap News Agency