Johnson Controls International has agreed to pay $215 million to settle a wave of lawsuits alleging that defective fire suppression systems manufactured under its Tyco and SimplexGrinnell brands failed to activate during fires at commercial properties, resulting in four deaths, dozens of injuries, and tens of millions in property damage.
The settlement, filed in federal court in Milwaukee on Friday, covers 312 plaintiffs including property owners, businesses, and the families of victims who died in two separate fire incidents where the suppression systems did not discharge.
The Defect Alleged
Plaintiffs alleged that a firmware defect in the control panels for certain wet pipe and pre-action sprinkler systems could cause the system to enter a fault state and disable automatic activation. The defect was allegedly present in systems manufactured between 2018 and 2023.
According to the complaint, Johnson Controls received field reports of the fault condition as early as 2021 but issued only a technical advisory — which reached building managers but not individual tenants or occupants — rather than pursuing a mandatory recall or direct notification.
The Deadliest Incident
The most serious incident tied to the litigation occurred at a six-story office building in Atlanta in March 2023, where a kitchen fire on the second floor spread to three additional floors after the suppression system failed to activate. Two office workers were killed and 11 were injured, six seriously.
Johnson Controls’ Position
The company denied any defect in its products in a statement, saying the settlement was reached “to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continued litigation” and that investigations by its own engineers “did not establish a causal link” between the firmware and the suppression failures.