PORT TOWNSEND — A lawsuit has been filed against the two teenagers accused of starting the Aug. 4 fire that destroyed the historical Aldrich’s market in the uptown district.
Aldrich’s owners David Hamilton and Johnathon Ryweck filed the suit in Jefferson County Superior Court under their business names, Ham & Rye LLC and Retail Services Inc.
Relief from damages and the cost of reconstructing the grocery store are sought in the suit, which was filed last Wednesday.
The amount of those costs will be determined at a trial, said Malcolm Harris, the Port Townsend attorney representing Hamilton and Ryweck.
Estimates on damage alone have been penned at more than $1 million.
Constructing a new Aldrich’s could come close to twice that amount, Ryweck has said.
The lawsuit comes as both teenagers — a 14-year-old girl from Port Townsend, and a 15-year-old boy from Bremerton — are awaiting trial in Juvenile Court on criminal charges of reckless burning, a Class C felony.
The charge is different than arson because the teenagers didn’t intend to cause damage to the 114-year-old Aldrich’s building at 940 Lawrence St., prosecutors and police have said.
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