Bronx Apartment Fire Class Action Claims 17 Deaths Preventable; City Officials, Building Owners To Blame

Bronx Apartment Fire Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: Rosa Reyes and Felix Martinez have filed a class action lawsuit against the current and former owners of a 19-story Bronx apartment building. 
• Why: Reyes and Martinez claim the building’s current and former owners, along with city officials, are responsible for a fire that killed 17 people earlier this month.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in the Bronx Supreme Court.

City officials and the current and former owners of a 19-story Bronx apartment building are responsible for a fire that killed 17 people earlier this month, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiffs Rosa Reyes and Felix Martinez claim the building’s landlords were aware of but failed to fix defective conditions within the complex that ended up contributing to the fatal event, the New York Post reports. 

The building became filled with smoke after a self-closing door malfunctioned in an apartment that had been set on fire by a space heater, officials reportedly said. 

Married couple Reyes and Martinez named the building’s joint-venture owner, Bronx Park Phase III Preservation LLC, in the class action lawsuits along with three of its member companies and the building’s former owner, Cammeby’s International Group, the New York Post reports. 

“We are devastated by this terrible tragedy and are cooperating fully with the Fire Department and other agencies as they continue to investigate,” Bronx Park Phase III Preservation LLC said in a statement. 

Cammeby’s founder and real-estate tycoon Rubin Schron was also named in the complaint. Schron sold the Bronx property in 2019. 

Notice Of Claim Seeking $1B For Each Class Member Also Filed Against City, Housing Departments, Mayor, Housing Commissioner

A notice of claim seeking $1 billion for each Class Member was also filed against the city, several housing departments, and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Housing Commissioner Melanie La Rocca, the New York Post reports. 

City officials failed to replace parts on the apartment doors in the building that had gotten rusty and kept the doors from self-closing, as designed, the notice alleges. 

The city was aware of the need to fix the doors, according to the notice, which pointed to a 2017 incident when 13 people were killed in a Bronx apartment fire after problems within the complex weren’t fixed, the New York Post reports. 

The apartment building had been cited more than two dozen times for complaints and violations since 2014 despite being given $25 million in loans from the state in 2013 that was meant to be used for repairs, the New York Post reports. 

In 2019, a separate class action lawsuit involving New York argued the state’s subway system was not fully accessible for passengers with disabilities. 

Do you believe the current and former owners of the Bronx apartment building are responsible for the fatal incident? Let us know in the comments! 

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