Condominium developer Huser Ltd. filed a lawsuit Monday seeking damages totaling 13.9 billion yen from 18 local governments for their alleged failure to spot fabricated quake-proofing data despite screening the building plans of its condominiums, company officials said.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='200' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='/images/photos2006/nn20060131a9a.jpg' WIDTH='200' HEIGHT='141'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>City officials check Monday for illegal modifications at a Toyoko Inn Co. business hotel in Naka Ward. </B></FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>The damages, demanded from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and other Tokyo-area governments, include demands for compensation to condominium residents.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Huser said in the complaint filed with the Tokyo District Court that it had sold illegally designed condos without knowing about the data fabrications and suffered damage as it has been forced to pay for their dismantlement or reinforcement expenses.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Huser developed most of the dozens of condominiums with substandard quake resistance using data faked by architect Hidetsugu Aneha.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Several local governments failed to detect the fabrications despite examining building plans for the condominium complexes before construction began.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The company said the 18 local governments overlooked the data fabrications or failed to enable government-designated inspectors in the private sector to detect Aneha's wrongdoing even though they are 'obliged' to prevent the construction of illegal buildings.</PARAGRAPH> <SUBHEAD> Osaka HQ in danger</SUBHEAD> <PARAGRAPH> OSAKA –

The 80-year-old Osaka Prefectural Government building could collapse in a major earthquake because it has not been adequately reinforced, prefectural officials said Monday.

The prefectural government plans to decide by the fall whether to rebuild the six-story concrete building or reinforce it.