An insurer for Buoy Beer Co. has filed a $9.4 million lawsuit blaming contractors and Astoria for the partial collapse of the brewery into the Columbia River in June 2022.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Clatsop County Circuit Court, claims Rickenbach Construction, Stricker Engineering, Columbia Dockworks and the city recognized the imminent danger at the building but failed to warn the brewery.

No one was injured in the June 2022 collapse, or a further collapse of the building in December, but it sent debris into the river that was visible along the coast for months. Over the past two years, the cave-in disrupted the public’s access to the Astoria Riverwalk and the route of the Astoria Riverfront Trolley.

The lawsuit describes the Buoy Beer building between Seventh and Eighth streets as “dangerously unstable” and indicates demolition and repair are imminent.

“The collapse was preventable,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed by Cozen O’Connor, a Seattle firm, on behalf of Mt. Hawley Insurance Co., a Peoria, Illinois, company that insured Buoy Beer. “The negligence, gross negligence, and the reckless, outrageous, willful and wanton conduct of the defendants caused the collapse, and plaintiff seeks to hold them responsible for the resulting damages.”

David Kroening, the co-founder of Buoy Beer, said Mt. Hawley Insurance is a previous insurer. “I think to clarify, there probably is some confusion — we’re not involved in any litigation in any way, shape or form,” Kroening told The Astorian. “I don’t know the details, but it would have been our previous insurance company, which we’re no longer insured by.”

City Attorney Blair Henningsgaard said he has not had a chance to review the legal complaint in any detail. “This claim is being handled by attorneys for our insurance company,” he said in an email. “As such I am not in a position to make any comment on behalf of the city.”

Rickenbach Construction, an Astoria company, and Stricker Engineering, based in Garibaldi, declined to comment. Timothy Peitsch, the president of Columbia Dockworks, said, “We didn’t do any work in the affected area, and the only work that we’ve ever done on that building is still standing. So it’s not really relevant to us.”

The Buoy Beer building, which dates back to 1924, is a former Bornstein Seafoods processing plant that was converted into a brewery and restaurant starting in 2013.

The lawsuit alleges the contractors failed to perform a comprehensive structural engineering analysis during years of construction improvements and the installation of tens of thousands of pounds of brewery equipment.

The city, the lawsuit claims, approved permits for the improvements without a complete structural analysis.

The lawsuit alleges the work was performed on “a building they knew to be in peril, or knew had not been adequately assessed for perils — likely to increase profitability, their own corporate recognition and tourist income.”

The lawsuit also claims Rickenbach Construction pursued a historical designation for the building so it would not have to conduct a comprehensive structural analysis during the significant changes.

Buoy Beer, which operated a popular craft brewery and restaurant on the riverfront, closed its kitchen indefinitely in 2021, citing issues with the dock and pilings underneath the building.

After the June 2022 collapse, Buoy Beer told The Astorian that the caved-in area of the building had been closed off to employees and the public.

“The structural issue was known,” Jessyka Dart-Mclean, Buoy Beer’s marketing manager, said at the time. “And so that part of the building was closed.”