Apartment Fire Lawsuit Holds Landlord to Blame for Negligence

Devastating Smoke and Fire

Pritzker Hageman represented the families of two apartment residents who died. The law firm also represented a survivor of the fire who lived directly above the 14th-floor apartment where the blaze started. Medical evidence showed that all six people who died suffered smoke inhalation. The accidental fire broke out shortly before 4 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2019, at 630 Cedar Avenue. One of the six people whose life was claimed by the fire suffered for months before dying.

Miller said the legal team for survivors and next of kin started their inquiry by interviewing officials from the public housing authority. Those sessions led to the inclusion of two additional parties as defendants in the case: Egan Company of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a contractor; and Florida-based NV5, a national consulting and engineering services firm often hired by government agencies.

“Put simply, the negligence of NV5, Egan and MPHA (housing authority) directly and proximately caused the deaths of six innocent people and injuries to countless others,’’ the lawyers wrote in the final, amended lawsuit complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.

The complaint explains in detail how each defendant allegedly failed to protect the lives of the elderly in the public high-rise apartment building. What follows is a summary of alleged negligence, according to the complaint that’s still available to the public in court records for:

Minneapolis Public Housing Authority

A regular recipient of federal funding, the housing authority built the 26-story apartment building in 1970. The apartment areas did not have sprinklers, even though it became a requirement for high-rise buildings beginning in 1980. ‘’The lack of sprinklers is just one of the many negligent acts that led to the entirely preventable deaths of six innocent people.’’

MPHA also failed to ensure apartment doors were self-closing. The door to apartment 1407, where the fire started was in the open position, the Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division reported. The failure to self-close “contributed to the spread of fire throughout the 14th story,’’ the report said. Had the self-closing door to apartment 1407 been operational, as required by code, “the fire would have been contained to the apartment of origin.’’

In another code violation, MPHA did not ensure that elevator shafts and stairwells were pressurized to prevent smoke and toxic gases from spreading throughout the building.

The fire alarm system at 630 Cedar was not code compliant because it did not meet audibility requirements. The housing authority knew the fire alarm system was not code compliant before the fire.

Egan Company

In June 2019, about 12 weeks before the fire, contractor Egan completed installation of a new fire alarm system at the Cedar Avenue high-rise. Following the fire, testing of the system revealed that the alarm system failed to meet the audibility requirements of the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code on multiple floors. This was especially pertinent in a building of older residents susceptible to hearing loss. “Had the residents received a reliable fire cue by way of a clearly audible fire alarm system, they would have had sufficient time to safely evacuate,’’ the complaint said.

NV5

NV5’s consulting role for the housing authority included ensuring that replacement fire alarm systems at 10 MPHA-owned properties, including the Cedar Avenue high-rise, were compliant with codes, standards and regulations. There was testimony from at least one MPHA employee who said multiple contractors were concerned about the bidding process because the specifications didn’t call for CO2/smoke detectors to be placed in individual apartment units. By approving a fire alarm system that failed to meet the audibility requirements, NV5 violated the Minnesota Building Code, according to the complaint.