A fatal fire in Guelph earlier this year, one the city's fire chief used as an example to tell residents to "wake up" on the need for working smoke alarms, is now at the heart of an $11.5 million lawsuit.
The family of two women who died in the fire at a townhouse complex on Edinburgh Road are suing the landlords, claiming they were not only negligent but “behaved in a reckless, arrogant and high-handed manner.”
A statement of claim was filed in Milton on Dec. 12.
None of the allegations claimed have been tested or proven in court.
A statement of defence has not been filed.
Four plaintiffs are listed, including the estates of Jeanette Niebler-Blei and her daughter Rachel Niebler, who died at the scene on March 11.
Kirsten Niebler and Mark Blei, who escaped the blaze, are the other two.
According to the claim, the fire started unbeknownst to the family of four inside the townhouse. It says both Jeanette and Rachel “became trapped as the fire grew.”
Fire personnel weren’t able to get the two out, and both died.
Kirsten and Mark escaped, but the claim states both sustained “serious and permanent injuries.”
Mark’s injuries included “burns, smoke inhalation, anxiety, mental shock and depression.”
Kirsten suffered “a right calcaneus fracture (a heel fracture), smoke inhalation, anxiety and shock.”
Both of them also suffered from after effects including headaches and dizziness as a result.
The family claims the landlords knew, among other things, there was “an inadequate number of exits.”
It says the landlords permitted more people to reside in the home than what was allowable, and failed to install smoke alarms “or in the alternative, failed to regularly inspect the smoke detectors in the premises to ensure that they were functioning properly.”
The claim also notes the landlords “were aware of safety complaints regarding the premises and its occupants, but failed to respond to and address” them.
It added the landlords were aware of suggestions and recommendations to help and improve the safety of the home, but also “failed to respond to and address” them.
The blaze was part of an unusual sequence, with four house fires reported in less than a week in Guelph.
At the time, the Ontario Fire Marshal held a press conference in front of the townhouse, and confirmed there were no working smoke alarms in the home.
John Pegg added upon inspection, “many units” in the same complex had no working smoke alarms either.
The claim later goes on to say the landlords “behaved in a reckless, arrogant and high-handed manner and have shown a conscious and callous disregard and complete lack of care for the lives and safety of others, including Jeanette and Rachel, and the defendants have breached their duty of utmost good faith.”
Mark and Kirsten say as a result of losing Jeanette and Rachel, they “sustained a loss of guidance, care and companionship that they might reasonably have expected to receive from them had they not been killed.”
The two also suffered financial losses in the form of pecuniary benefits they would have received from the deceased.
Both Mark and Kirsten say the two have taken on, and will continue to suffer financial expenses for hospitalization, medication, therapy, rehab and other forms of care.
A cause and source of the fatal fire remains unknown.
Guelph fire chief Brian Arnold told GuelphToday on Wednesday he has not received the final report from the OFM.
