PARIS – Two lawsuits have been filed in Oxford County Superior Court on behalf of businesses that were in the Opera House in Norway before being flooded out in September.

The suits, on behalf of Albina Massimino and Beauty and Beyond Inc. in one case and Elise Thurlow, doing business as Colonial Coffee Shoppe in the other, both charge Bitim Enterprises Inc. with negligence, fraud, breach of contract and lessor liability.

The 1894 three-story brick building on Main Street, with its clock tower, dominates the downtown business district. The two businesses rented space on the first floor, while the upper floors have been vacant for years.

Attorney Theodore Kurtz, who represents the clients in both suits, states that the Londonderry, N.H.-based company “knew that the building was unsafe and unreasonably dangerous” and that it failed to inform the businesses of the conditions.

On Sept. 21, the roof of the Opera House partially collapsed, sending water from the roof and a broken sprinkler pipe down through the floors. Beauty and Beyond, a beauty supply store, moved to Market Square in Paris after the incident but is now in Bridgton.

According to the suits, the beauty shop lost more than $75,000 in inventory, while the coffee shop had approximately $25,000 in losses.

Kurtz also states that Bitim Enterprises “actively concealed the building conditions” from the businesses and “failed to disclose to the plaintiffs the existence of the building conditions involving unreasonable risk of physical harm.”

Town Manager David Holt of Norway said building owner Barry Mazzaglia of Bitim Enterprises has said he will present a plan to the selectmen on how to utilize the building this spring. He said the town will inspect the building to determine if it is safe for tenants to return.

“We haven’t been on the inside for an inspection for several months. We have inspected the roof throughout the winter,” Holt said. “We haven’t noticed any structural failures throughout the winter.”

According to the Oxford County Registry of Deeds, Bitim Enterprises purchased the Opera House in 2003 from Ralph H. Doering Jr., who had owned the building since 1986. The registry also records a lien placed on the building by Norway on Oct. 9 for $4,230.60 in unpaid taxes and $171.92 in interest. Holt said he did not know if the lien has been resolved.

Kurtz and Mazzaglia were unavailable for comment Tuesday.