Residents Approve $6.6M Settlement Over Mass. Paint Factory Explosion

Property owners in Danvers, Mass., have approved a $6.6 million settlement offer by the co-owners of a paint factory that exploded in 2006 and caused major damage to their neighborhood.

The deal, overwhelmingly approved at a meeting of members of a neighborhood trust, would pay $1.4 million to about 100 property owners and $5.2 million to insurance carriers, who have paid out more than $20 million in claims since the November 2006 blast.

Jan Schlictmann, attorney for the trust, said more than 100 people attended the meeting.

If the proposal by factory co-owners CAI Inc. of Georgetown and Arnel Co. of Danvers also is approved by a probate court, a review panel would be established to divide the money.

The pre-dawn blast registered 0.5 on the Richter scale and damaged 270 local homes and businesses.

Amazingly, no one was killed or seriously injured.