Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
The son of a woman who died in her Bastrop apartment last September has filed a civil lawsuit seeking “damages for the fear, pain and ultimate death of his mother and the grief and mental anguish he experienced from her death,” according to reports from the Monroe News-Star.
The victim, Merrimac Ellis, died from injuries she suffered in the fire while she was trapped in her power wheelchair. The petition claims that the management of her apartment in the complex for seniors negligently failed to resolve “unreasonably dangerous conditions” that were the cause of Ellis’ death. In addition to seeking damages from the Bond House apartment complex and its insurance underwriter, Ellis’ son is also seeking to recover from the manufacturer of her power wheelchair and the companies maintaining the fire alarm and sprinkler systems at the complex.
The petition asserts that Delta Fire Protection Systems Inc. failed to “maintain sprinkler heads” and that Vantronics Security System of Monroe, Inc. failed to “maintain an audible alarm.” Neither the sprinkler system nor the fire alarm properly responded to the fire that claimed the victim’s life.