7 Gabriel House residents sue facility, suit alleges broken elevator and sprinkler inspection days before fire
TAUNTON, Mass. (WLNE) — A group of seven plaintiffs are suing Fall River’s Gabriel House assisted living facility and Fire Systems, Inc. for what the lawsuit calls “bodily injury and property damage resulting from the negligence of the Defendants.”
The lawsuit is one of several filed in the wake of the deadly July 13 fire at Gabriel House that left ten residents dead and many more injured.
The 11-count suit was filed on Wednesday on behalf of former Gabriel House residents Albert Almanza, Larry Ashworth, Muriel Boyce, Shirley Cambra, Lorraine Ferrera, Caroline Johnson and James Vicery.
This latest suit names Gabriel House owner Dennis Etzkorn and Karen Etzkorn as trustees of the facility.
The lawsuit accuses Gabriel House, Dennis Etzkorn and Fire Systems, Inc. of Dartmouth of negligence in the fire.
Other counts of the suit against Gabriel House, Dennis Etzkorn and Karen Etzkorn include accusations of breach of warranty of habitability.
The suit also includes language it attributes to Gabriel House’s website, saying that the facility claimed it would enable individuals to “live independently while feeling secure in the knowledge that help is there when you need it.”
Also attributed to the facility’s website in the suit, “Gabriel House boasted on its website that its ‘staff is awake and available 24 hours a day. If an emergency occurs, no matter the time, there will be someone ready to help.'”
The lawsuit also states that at the time of the fire, “Defendants knew and should have known that many of the residents receiving care at Gabriel House smoked cigarettes, and even smoked cigarettes while being administered oxygen.”
The text of the suit goes on to say “At all times material hereto, Defendants knew or reasonably should have known that smoking cigarettes while being administered oxygen constitutes risk of fires and explosions.”
The suit also claims that at the time of the fire, “Gabriel House and Etzkorn did not have an Emergency Preparedness Plan,” and it alleges that “employees were not trained, acquainted, or drilled to ensure disaster and emergency preparedness” when the fire occurred.
It further alleges that residents receiving care at the time were not individually assessed and that staff were not required to anticipate and prepare for the needs of residents receiving care in the event of an emergency.
The suit also references a Gabriel House certified nursing assistant named Jenn Marley, who according to the suit, stated that there were no fire drills during her time working at the facility.
Another allegation in the suit states that an elevator at Gabriel House had been non-functional for over eight months, and that Defendants were aware of the elevator’s state.
The suit also claims that multiple complaints about the elevator were made to Defendants by facility residents, resident family members and facility staff.
According to another allegation in the lawsuit, “Fire Systems inspected and certified in good working order the fire sprinklers and fire pump a mere 5 days before the occurrence of the subject fire.”
The suit continues, “At all times material hereto, the fire sprinklers were improperly installed and maintained, and therefore were not operational at the time of the subject fire.”
The plaintiffs in the suit are being represented by multiple attorneys from Keches Law Group in Milton, and by Isabela Orlacchio-Garcia of Boston Law in Boston.
ABC6 has reached out to representatives for Gabriel House and Fire Systems, Inc. for comment on this matter.
