Alabama Supreme Court Reverses Madison County Circuit Court Decision in Wrongful Death, Injury Case
I was pleased to read recently that the family of a young woman killed in a 2004 apartment fire will finally get their day in court. That family's Alabama civil suit stemmed from a south Huntsville arson fire that claimed the life of 24-year-old April Collins, a teacher who lived in the apartment block that was set afire.
Although Henry Rice, also a tenant of the Hunters’ Ridge Apartment complex, was found guilty of intentionally starting that deadly blaze and sentenced to life in prison, Collins’ family and other victims who were injured or whose property was destroyed as a result of the fire lost their opportunity to bring seven individual civil suits against the apartment’s owner and the builder back in 2007.
As a Birmingham personal injury lawyer, I’ll be the first to say that justice doesn’t always come in the first round. In this case, attorneys for the victims of that fire were told by a lower court that they did not have grounds for a civil suit, but on appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court they will now be able to move forward. I always fight hard for my clients and sometimes that includes taking things to the next level. This is an example where perseverance paid off, at least initially.
Following that fatal fire, which also caused injury to other residents of that apartment complex, numerous civil claims were filed against the builder, Scenic Homes, and the landlord, Enterprise Apartments. According to reports, the Collins' family attorney claimed that an architect was not used during construction of the complex and many fire and building safety codes were bypassed -- most critically that any apartment structure must have at least two exit stairwells.
In addition to having no sprinklers, the complex reportedly also did not have fire alarms. As a result, by the time Ms. Collins was alerted to the blaze, her only avenue of escape was blocked by the spreading fire. She had no choice but to run through the flames, which caused extensive burns that resulted in her death. According to court records, expert testimony indicated that if the building been code compliant, Collins might still be alive today.
Despite the weight of these and other statements by the claimants, the defendants’ lawyers argued that the landlord and the builder had no duty to make the building safe in the event the fire was set on purpose, such as part of a criminal act. Apparently, Madison County Circuit Judge Loyd Little ruled the arsonist's criminal act negated any duty by the defendants.
Thankfully, the Alabama Supreme Court overturned Little's decision 9-0, unanimously agreeing that the duty to build and maintain a structure in a safe condition is not dependant on how a fire will be set. This paves the way for the original civil suits to go to trial sometime around September, with the Collins family’s case planned to be the first.
AL Supreme Court overturns local judge's decision on fatal fire civil suit, WAFF.com, July 1, 2009
