LONDON: The legal fallout from the Grenfell fire tragedy has spread to the US, where a shareholder of the company that supplied the cladding panels has filed a new lawsuit.
Lawyers anticipate a flurry of litigation arising from the high-rise blaze in London last month, where at least 80 people died.
A shareholder of Arconic on Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing the company of defrauding shareholders over its supply of cladding panels used on the building.
In the proposed class-action complaint, Michael Brave is seeking to recoup “significant” shareholder losses rising from Arconic’s failure prior to the June 14 blaze to properly disclose its use of “highly flammable” Reynobond PE panels.
The Grenfell Tower is among several high-rise fires around the world that have been linked to the use of cladding panels that contain highly flammable plastic materials which can burn with ferocious speed when ignited.
The blaze has triggered inspections of buildings around the UK, but also in other countries where such panels are commonly used.
“A lot of our main contractor clients are doing surveys of buildings to see what materials have been used and what the risk is of similar incidents,” said Adrian Bell, the co-head of the infrastructure, construction and energy disputes group at CMS, the world’s sixth-largest law firm.
He expects to see breach of contract claims between building owners and contractors to follow in the wake of the blaze. “They would look at whether the correct materials have been used and whether the contractors correctly discharged their obligations,” he added.
The lawsuit filed in the federal court in Manhattan, where Arconic is based, is thought to be the first in the US linked to the fire in North Kensington last month.
Arconic’s share price fell 21 percent between June 14 and June 27, the day after the company once known as Alcoa said it would stop selling the panels for use in high-rises.
That decline reduced Arconic’s market value by more than $2.5 billion, according to Reuters data.
Arconic declined to comment on the lawsuit. Brave said shareholders were deceived by Arconic’s inadequate disclosures regarding the cladding panels, and that their use significantly increased the risk of property damage, injury or death in buildings containing them.
— With input from Reuters
Grenfell tragedy’s legal fallout extends to US
Grenfell tragedy’s legal fallout extends to US
AI will never replace human creativity, says SRMG CEO
- Speaking to Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, Jomana R. Alrashid expressed pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI
RIYADH: Jomana R. Alrashid, CEO of Saudi Research and Media Group, highlighted how AI cannot replace human creativity during a session at The Family Office’s “Investing Is a Sea” summit at Shura Island on Friday.
“You can never replace human creativity. Journalism at the end of the day, and content creation, is all about storytelling, and that’s a creative role that AI does not have the power to do just yet,” Alrashid told the investment summit.
“We will never eliminate that human role which comes in to actually tell that story, do the actual investigative reporting around it, make sure to be able to also tell you what’s news or what’s factual from what’s wrong ... what’s a misinformation from bias, and that’s the bigger role that the editorial player does in the newsroom.”
Speaking on the topic of AI, moderated by Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, the CEO expressed her pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI in a way that was “transformative.”
“We are now translating all of our content leveraging AI. We are also now being able to create documentaries leveraging AI. We now have AI-facilitated fact-checking, AI facilities clipping, transcribing. This is what we believe is the future.”
Alrashid was asked what the journalist of the future would look like. “He’s a journalist and an engineer. He’s someone who needs to understand data. And I think this is another topic that is extremely important, understanding the data that you’re working with,” she said.
“This is something that AI has facilitated as well. I must say that over the past 20 years in the region, especially when it comes to media companies, we did not understand the importance of data.”
The CEO highlighted that previously, media would rely on polling, surveys or viewership numbers, but now more detailed information about what viewers wanted was available.
During the fireside session, Alrashid was asked how the international community viewed the Middle Eastern media. Alrashid said that over the past decades it had played a critical role in informing wider audiences about issues that were extremely complex — politically, culturally and economically — and continued to play that role.
“Right now it has a bigger role to play, given the role again of social media, citizen journalists, content creators. But I also do believe that it has been facilitated by the power that AI has. Now immediately, you can ensure that that kind of content that is being created by credible, tier-A journalists, world-class journalists, can travel beyond its borders, can travel instantly to target different geographies, different people, different countries, in different languages, in different formats.”
She said that there was a big opportunity for Arab media not to be limited to simply Arab consumption, but to finally transcend borders and be available in different languages and to cater to their audiences.
The CEO expressed optimism about the future, emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision, a strong strategy, and full team alignment.
Traditional advertising models, once centered on television and print, were rapidly changing, with social media platforms now dominating advertising revenue.
“It’s drastically changing. Ultimately in the past, we used to compete with one another over viewership. But now we’re also competing with the likes of social media platforms; 80 percent of the advertising revenue in the Middle East goes to the social media platforms, but that means that there’s 80 percent interest opportunities.”
She said that the challenge was to create the right content on these platforms that engaged the target audiences and enabled commercial partnerships. “I don’t think this is a secret, but brands do not like to advertise with news channels. Ultimately, it’s always related with either conflict or war, which is a deterrent to advertisers.
“And that’s why we’ve entered new verticals such as sports. And that’s why we also double down on our lifestyle vertical. Ultimately, we have the largest market share when it comes to lifestyle ... And we’ve launched new platforms such as Billboard Arabia that gives us an entry into music.”
Alrashid said this was why the group was in a strong position to counter the decline in advertising revenues across different platforms, and by introducing new products.
“Another very important IP that we’ve created is events attached to the brands that have been operating in the region for 30-plus years. Any IP or any title right now that doesn’t have an event attached to it is missing out on a very big commercial opportunity that allows us to sit in a room, exchange ideas, talk to one another, get to know one another behind the screen.”
The CEO said that disruption was now constant and often self-driving, adding that the future of the industry was often in storytelling and the ability to innovate by creating persuasive content that connected directly with the audience.
“But the next disruption is going to continue to come from AI. And how quickly this tool and this very powerful technology evolves. And whether we are in a position to cope with it, adapt to it, and absorb it fully or not.”
