March 3, 1983

It was only a few months after the Central National Bank bought its 23-story Cleveland headquarters in November 1977 that dangerous cracks appeared all over the eight-year-old building's brick facade. Last week the bank won a $26 million jury award against the Dow Chemical Company, the maker of Sarabond, the mortar additive that caused the damage. The 18-week Central National trial in Cleveland's Common Pleas Court was the first Sarabond case to get to a jury, but lawyers familiar with the problem say that Dow is facing dozens - and possibly hundreds - of similar claims. The Brick Institute of America estimates that Sarabond has been used in about 2,000 buildings.

Alarmed by a sixfold increase in legal judgments against New York City, to $120 million a year, city officials said they would seek legislation in Albany to curb the cost. The city wants a limit on personal injury awards and limited liability when it is a co-defendant. It also seeks to bring all city employees under workers' compensation and to have cases against the city tried by judges without juries. This would save the city $36 million, according to the Office of Management and Budget. It says in a memorandum that liability costs, which had averaged $20 million a year, rose to $120 million in 1981.

Steelmakers may be emerging from one of their darkest periods since the Depression, but they are having trouble believing that the trials of their battered industry are at an end. The elements of a recovery are beginning to fall into place. Orders for flat-rolled steel have rebounded sharply, discounting is moderating and a recent price increase seems to be sticking. In addition, imports have dropped significantly - down 44 percent in January from the level of a year before. And European steelmakers have agreed to cut their shipments to this country.

Bolstered by more favorable economic news, stocks made another broad advance yesterday in heavy trading. All three of the major market indicators finished at new closing highs. The closely watched Dow Jones industrial average, which is composed of 30 major corporations, closed ahead 4.35 points, at 1,135.06. The overall market did even better. Issues that rose in price on the New York Stock Exchange outnumbered issues that fell by more than a 2-to-1 ratio.

A news summary item in the Business Digest on Tuesday incorrectly identified a stock purchased by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. It was Santa Fe Industries.