AUDITORIUM FIGHT WEARS ON PARENTS : INSURANCE COMPANY BLAMED FOR QUAKE-REPAIRS STALEMATE.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

To the school district officials and their lawyer, an insurance company's refusal to pay for $2.2 million in earthquake damage to the landmark Hart High School auditorium is cause for punitive damages.

To the insurer, the William S. Hart Union High School District relinquished its rights to a settlement by waiting 22 months to officially report damage from the Northridge Earthquake.

To Hart High mothers Sue Trock and Kathy Bokal, RLI Insurance needs to do right by their kids.

``Maybe there was a mistake made somewhere along the line and the school district was late with its claim,'' Trock said Monday. ``I don't know. All I know is it's just so morally wrong.''

The brick auditorium, built in 1952 and the venue for school performances as well as community productions, has been condemned since the Jan. 17, 1994, quake. The exterior is undamaged, but the interior walls, 900 theater-style seats and the ceiling are destroyed or contaminated by exposed asbestos.

The repair bill is $2.2 million and Hart is suing the insurer and the broker.

Hart officials maintain in a lawsuit filed in September that they were unaware that the auditorium was covered by a districtwide quake insurance policy. Nevertheless, shortly after the quake, they informed broker Arthur J. Gallagher and Co. of damage at all district facilities - including the auditorium - said Timothy Dillon, attorney for the school district.

Rick Sarazez, a Gallagher employee, referred inquiries to the company's attorney, who did not return phone calls.

RLI Insurance of Peoria, Ill., has no record of a claim made for the auditorium until well beyond the ``practical'' time after the disaster, said Mike Stone, vice president of claims for the Peoria, Ill., company. However, there is no specific deadline by which a claim must be filed.

``For a premium, we agree to do certain things and they agree to do certain things,'' Stone said. ``From our understanding of the facts, they didn't do certain things that they needed to do. We have obligations at this point to other policyholders and shareholders.''

But Trock and Bokal say they don't understand how an insurance company can deny a claim for an insured public school facility when the policyholder has paid all premiums. Trock has a son in junior high who will attend Hart; Bokal has a son who is a junior at Hart and a daughter who will enter the Newhall high school in September 1998.

``I've talked to a lot of insurance people and when I've given them the basic facts, the response is the same. Nobody should fool around with a school district,'' said Trock, auditorium chairman for the Hart High School Foundation, a community group organized to raise money to restore the campus.

``The insurance company is taking the attitude that this is just a building. But there are people that they're affecting. It's four years of high school kids who will never have a performance at school.''

Trock and Bokal, foundation president, sent a letter last week seeking support from everyone from Santa Clarita Mayor Clyde Smyth to President Clinton.

``My daughter, she's been in dance since she was a toddler,'' Bokal said. ``Every year we went to Hart for her recitals, now we have to go elsewhere. She's just waiting to perform there again.''

The auditorium - as well as the gym that was destroyed and recently reopened - are symbols of student unity and pride, Bokal added.

``Without the two facilities, the school's been without a unity, without a spirit,'' she said. ``They've used back yards for performances, other schools. But nothing's been home. There'll be nothing for these kids to come back to for memories.''

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Photo

Photo: The Hart High School auditorium suffered more than $2 million in damage in the Northridge Quake.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News