By BERNIE HORNICK
JOHNSTOWN — A Somerset packager that specializes in filling metal and plastic squeeze tubes has been awarded $500,000 for automated machinery that never quite worked right.
Guy Chemical Inc. won the award from Romaco Inc. of Pompton Plains, N.J. Jurors in U.S. District Court in Johnstown determined that Romaco breached its contract and warranty.
“We’re pretty darn happy after all the years the case has drug on,” Guy Chemical President Guy Berkebile said Monday. He said the company – after paying its legal expenses – would use the money to grow the company.
Guy Chemical had Romaco install the high-speed filling machine in August 2002.
Guy Chemical, which has 45 employees, wanted the machine for filling tubes with adhesive sealant for home and auto use. The silicone is used to seal windows, joints and for many electrical applications.
According to court papers from the lawsuit, Romaco guaranteed production speeds of 60 tubes per minute.
“They just kept their fingers crossed that the machine would work for our purposes,’’ Berkebile said.
It didn’t.
Soon after buying the $98,000 Unipac 120, Guy Chemical found that it was damaging the tubes it was filling. In addition, the machine leaked whatever product was being used to fill the tubes.
“The inability of the Unipac
120 to properly perform caused Guy Chemical to routinely miss shipment dates for customers and resulted in significant lost sales,” the civil suit claimed.
The machine was replaced with new equipment – that was more costly – under less favorable financing terms, in January 2006. Guy Chemical sued that same year.
