Mothers of children killed in Columbia apartment fire sue property owners
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The mothers of two children killed last December in a Columbia apartment fire have sued the owners of the apartment complex where they died.
Tamitra Williams and Shania Pate filed their lawsuit Monday in Boone County court against Yarco Company, Inc., LIH Columbia Square Associates, LLC, and LEDG Capital, LLC. Yarco is the property manager for the complex and the other two companies are owners, according to the lawsuit
First responders spent hours on the morning of Dec. 14, 2022, fighting the fire at the unit in the 1000 block of Claudell Lane. Seven-year-old J'yneisha Washington and 4-year-old Ta'niyah Pate died in the fire from smoke inhalation, according to an autopsy. They were two of nearly a dozen people at the townhome when the fire started, according to fire officials.
The fire's cause hasn't been determined.
The lawsuit cites city code and requirements that tenants in state-subsidized housing are provided working smoke detectors and adequate living conditions. No working smoke alarms were present on the second floor in Tashyra Legardy's apartment, where the fire happened, the suit says.
The suit alleges that a maintenance man shortly before the fire checked a non-working smoke alarm, disconnected it and set it aside but didn't replace it.
"This unsafe condition existing in Tashyra’s apartment was apparently common to many units at the Columbia Square Townhome Apartments," the suit reads.
Wells Woods, attorney for the families at the law firm Eng & Woods, told ABC 17 News that federal regulations would also require smoke detectors since the complex received low-income housing tax credits.
"If the defendants had simply used some of the money they saved on the tax credit to install smoke alarms, we believe these children would have been able to escape the fire with their lives," Woods said.
An ABC 17 News investigation weeks after the fire showed that smoke alarm issues were recurring at the complex.
Records obtained by ABC 17 News show that city inspectors only checked some of the 128 units at Columbia Square Townhomes as part of the 2021 inspection process. That's because property management group Yarco invoked a city rule allowing complexes with 30 or more dwelling units to ask inspectors only check 30% of the units there.
The lawsuit cites multiple failed inspections.
Representatives for Yarco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
