Wrongful Death

Perenich, Caulfield, Avril & Noyes Personal Injury Lawyers |

While on the phone with her mother, a 36-year-old St. Petersburg woman said she needed to hang up because she smelled smoke in her apartment building. Tragically, this would be the last conversation she would have with her mother. As she tried to leave her second-floor apartment, she became trapped in her building’s interior stairwell and died from carbon monoxide poisoning. When the firm investigated the circumstances of her death, it was found that the building was in violation of numerous safety code provisions. Additionally, the fire was started by a mentally challenged resident of the apartment building who has supposed to be under the supervision of a state agency but had gone unsupervised. While the apartment owners attempted to argue that the fire was arson, and therefore out of their control, the firm was able to make a strong case on behalf of the victim’s estate and won a substantial settlement.