Wrongful death lawsuit filed against Fall River assisted living facility
The son of one of 10 people killed in a fire at Gabriel House in Fall River last month filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility, its owners and the company responsible for its fire safety systems on Thursday, court records show.
James Duddy filed the suit on behalf of the estate of his mother, Margaret, who was killed in the July 13 fire at the assisted living facility. It's at least the fourth lawsuit to be filed since the fire, but appears to be the first to claim wrongful death.
"As a direct and proximate result of the negligence of the defendant Gabriel Care LLC, its agents, employees, or servants, the plaintiff's decedent, Margaret Duddy, sustained serious injuries, suffered conscious pain and suffering and an untimely death on July 13, 2025," the lawsuit, filed in Bristol Superior Court, reads.
The named defendants are Gabriel Care LLC; Dennis Etzkorn, the facility's owner; Etzkorn's wife, Karen, who owns the parcel on Oliver Street where the facility is located; and Fire Systems, Inc., the company that installed fire safety systems such as sprinklers in the facility.
Duddy's lawsuit appears to be the first to name Karen Etzkorn as a defendant.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the "gross negligence that caused this tragedy" and demands a jury trial.
In her obituary , Duddy was remembered as a devoted caregiver who lived her life in the service of others.
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.
"There's truly no safe way to smoke, but smoking is especially dangerous when home oxygen is in use," State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine said at a press conference last week. "No one should smoke around medical oxygen."
Fire officials have not disclosed the exact unit where the fire broke out, but said it erupted in a second-story room on the east side of the east wing of the U-shaped building. The resident whose room the fire broke out in was among the 10 killed.
Deadly Gabriel House fire
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