ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
In the first legal action taken over a house fire that killed four Roanoke children and their grandmother, a $1.35 million lawsuit filed Tuesday claimed that a landlord's negligence made the home a firetrap.
WTS of Virginia and Rupert Jack Richards, who owned and managed the home at 1228 Stewart Ave. S.E., were named in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in Roanoke Circuit Court.
The suit was brought by Patricia Leftwich, who lost her mother and four children in a blaze that engulfed the home the night of Jan. 20.
According to the suit, the house was dangerous and "unfit for human habitation" because of faulty wiring and the lack of a fire wall that could have prevented the blaze from spreading to an upstairs room where the five victims died of smoke inhalation.
The fire has brought a debate over a proposed rental inspection program for Roanoke. Such a program, some say, might have detected the building code violations that are alleged in the lawsuit.
Brent Brown, who represents Leftwich along with Roanoke attorney Tony Anderson, said he will ask for a jury trial. "We view this as an extremely important case for the community to consider," Brown said.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Leftwich's mother, Goldie Christine Duncan. Brown said additional suits are pending involving the four children - Mark, 6; Clyde, 5; Patrick, 4; and Nancy, 3.
Phillip Anderson, a Roanoke attorney who represents WTS of Virginia, declined to comment, saying the Salem company has not had a chance to review the lawsuit. The attorney for Richards, who, according to the suit, leased the home to Duncan as an agent for WTS, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The lawsuit claims that the lack of a fire wall separating two apartments on the home's lower floor "served to rapidly propagate the fire and deadly smoke, thereby trapping Goldie Christine Duncan and her grandchildren in the upstairs apartment."
The allegations center on changes that were made to the house when it was converted from a single-family dwelling to three apartments, all of which were rented by the Leftwich family. According to the lawsuit, converting the house required a safety inspection by the city Building Department that never was conducted.
Fire officials have said the blaze was caused by an overheated extension cord that was plugged into an electric space heater in one of the downstairs rooms. Leftwich was in an upstairs room with her four children and mother the night of Jan. 20 when she smelled smoke and went downstairs to investigate.
Because of the way the house had been divided, she had to go down the stairs at the rear of the upstairs unit, through the west downstairs unit to the front porch. To enter the second downstairs unit, where the fire started, she had to go through another door on the front porch.
Such a configuration made it impossible for Duncan and the four children to escape once the fire - unchecked by the lack of a fire wall that should have separated the two downstairs units - rapidly spread through the house, the suit contends.
Leftwich escaped unharmed but was unable to save the rest of her family. Mark Leftwich, her ex-husband who had visited the children earlier in the night, returned to the home but was not able to save the victims, either.
The lawsuit alleges that when Richards rented the home, he knew a required safety inspection that would have detected the building code violations had never been conducted - making the home "a menace to the health and safety" of its occupants.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB