Travelers Excess & Surplus Lines Co., the insurance provider for Metro Nashville’s public library parking garage, filed a lawsuit accusing the nonprofit Nashville Downtown Partnership (NDP) and the public security and sanitation company Block by Block of creating a storage yard containing “combustible materials” inside the garage before the June 2025 fire that reportedly caused more than $10 million in damages.
The lawsuit accuses NDP of creating the storage yard and allowing Block by Block to use the facility sometime prior to June 10, 2025, when the lawsuit alleges a fire caused more than $10 million in damages to the property, causing Travelers to make payments on behalf of Metro Nashville under the policy.
According to the lawsuit filed last Thursday, “NDP had a duty to use ordinary care in connection with its use of the Property so as to avoid and/or prevent the risk of harm from fire,” with the nonprofit responsible for “maintenance and oversight of the Property as a part of its duties so as to avoid and/or prevent the risk of harm from fire.”
The insurance company then accuses NDP of converting the property’s use from a garage to a storage yard, or failing to ensure that Block by Block did not create the storage yard themselves. It describes the storage yard as “an impermissible” use of the garage.
Travelers, in its lawsuit, further accuses NDP of failing to prevent its employees, as well as those of Block by Block, from “smoking within the property,” or “[i]mproperly storing combustible, hazardous, and flammable materials in the property.”
The insurance company also claims that the insured party, Metro Nashville, was not notified of the changes made to the parking garage prior to the fire.
Blaming NDP for a role in the fire, it accuses the nonprofit of negligence, gross negligence, and breach of contract.
The lawsuit’s claims against Block by Block, by contrast, is include negligence and gross negligence, with Travelers alleging the company breached its duty of ordinary care by placing “combustible, hazardous, and/or flammable materials” inside the parking garage, using it as an “impermissible” storage yard, “[a]llowing its employees to smoke” in the garage, and failing to warn the insurance company about the “hazards” posed by the changes.
The insurance company seeks more than $10 million from the defendants.
The lawsuit was filed less than two months after the company and NDP expanded their partnership following the creation of Civicity, a new public safety division affiliated with Block by Block, which already has its “Community Response Officers” providing public security in downtown Nashville.
Prior to the launch of Civicity earlier this year, NDP appears to have contracted with Block by Block for both its “Clean Team” and “Safety Ambassadors.” While the former performs cleaning and maintenance, NDP states on its website that the Block by Block “Safety Ambassadors” engaged in patrols, checked for disorderly conduct, assisted police with crime and panhandling, offered outreach to the city’s homeless, and called law enforcement when required.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Nashville Public Library” by Antony-22. CC BY-SA 4.0.
