Fall River assisted living facility hit with 7th lawsuit in wake of fatal fire
Another former resident of the Gabriel House assisted living facility in Fall River has filed a lawsuit against the property and its owners in the wake of a deadly fire there in July that killed 10 people and injured several dozen.
Michael Croley, 78, is one of more than a dozen residents to sue the Gabriel House and its owner, Dennis Etzkorn, in the wake of the July 13 fire. All but one of the seven total lawsuits claim negligence. The family of one resident has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Etzkorn and Gabriel House.
In the suit filed in Bristol Superior Court, lawyers for Croley claim “Gabriel House was not properly managed, staffed, maintained, or supervised.”
A spokesperson for Etzkorn did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
When the fire broke out in the evening of July 13, Croley, who had lost a leg and an arm before the fire, was trapped in his room as smoke accumulated in the facility.
Firefighters had to break open a door to help Croley exit his unit, and he was carried out naked by two firefighters, according to the complaint.
Croley also repeats claims made in many other suits: that the sprinklers and fire suppression systems at Gabriel House did not work properly when the fire broke out.
The sprinkler system in the building had not undergone its mandated 5-year inspection when the fire erupted, MassLive reported.
Etzkorn previously said the building’s sprinkler system was inspected just five days before the fire and found to be in working order. He has given all relevant records to the investigating authorities, he said.
Body cam footage released by the city of Fall River has shown that at least some sprinklers were working in parts of the building that night, but several residents — through their lawsuits and in interviews with MassLive — claim they weren’t working uniformly throughout.
Officials have said the deadly blaze was caused by either the failure of an oxygen purifier or improper disposal of smoking materials . While the cause is undetermined, it is undisputed that the oxygen in the building contributed to the scale of the tragedy.
Fire officials have not disclosed the exact unit where the fire broke out, but said it started in a second-story room in the east wing of the U-shaped building.
The ongoing death investigation headed by the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office includes an assessment of the property’s compliance with fire and life safety codes.
Croley is seeking a jury trial on the lawsuit.
Deadly Gabriel House fire
Read the original article on MassLive .
