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texas-family-settles-fire-lawsuit
12/14/2017

Slumlord settles fatal apartment fire lawsuit brought by Texas family

Brian Beckcom

Brian Beckcom

12/14/2017

Fire safety is especially important in apartment complexes. And when property managers fail to make sure the smoke alarms work, they are putting hundreds of people at risk. This component of fire safety is basic – office buildings, schools, warehouses, factories, and every type of building test their fire alarms regularly for this very reason.

A Texas family is grieving because a slumlord failed to maintain and inspect the smoke detectors that were hardwired into an apartment complex. An apartment fire has left three young children without their mother. Their father and relatives turned to us to help hold this slumlord accountable for his safety failures. We have a successful track record helping communities fight slumlords, so the family turned to us to get justice.

Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) filed against slumlord

We filed a TRO to prevent any evidence from being damaged, tampered with, or destroyed. As part of our ensuing lawsuit against the slumlord, we retained experts to examine everything. They determined that not only had the slumlord failed to inspect and maintain the smoke dectectors, he had also failed to wire them properly. The experts determined that the smoke detectors should have been wired so they would cascade – that if one went off, all alarms would go off. None of the seven smoke alarms had gone off the night of the fire.

We were prepared to take the lawsuit to court, but the slumlord preferred to settle for a confidential amount. The family is still grieving, however the outcome of the lawsuit will enable them to have some peace of mind and justice.