When one lives in an apartment complex or similar building, there’s a certain level of expectation that the owner of the building will ensure that basic necessities, like heating systems, are fully functional. Seems reasonable. However, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed last fall that shed light on what can go wrong when apartment complexes fail to ensure their residents are living in a safe place. The lawsuit was filed against “Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer and Coeur d’Alene Resort General Manager Bill Reagan,” the co-owners of the Royal Arms Apartments. Why? Well, it turns out a 73-year-old woman, Margie Saunders, “died as a result of the low-income complex’s heating deficiencies in November 2014,” according to her son, Stephen Saunders. Fortunately for Saunders’ family, a settlement has been reached.
When one lives in an apartment complex or similar building, there’s a certain level of expectation that the owner of the building will ensure that basic necessities, like heating systems, are fully functional. Seems reasonable. However, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed last fall that shed light on what can go wrong when apartment complexes fail to ensure their residents are living in a safe place. The lawsuit was filed against “Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer and Coeur d’Alene Resort General Manager Bill Reagan,” the co-owners of the Royal Arms Apartments. Why? Well, it turns out a 73-year-old woman, Margie Saunders, “died as a result of the low-income complex’s heating deficiencies in November 2014,” according to her son, Stephen Saunders. Fortunately for Saunders’ family, a settlement has been reached.
But what happened, exactly? For starters, Stephen Saunders claimed in the lawsuit that the “defendants received multiple complaints from tenants over a seven-month period about the lack of heat and hot water in the apartments.” He also alleged that “Widmyer, Reagan, and the other defendants failed to provide heat, hot water, other habitable necessities and/or proper maintenance or repair to Margie Saunders’ apartment.” Other defendants mentioned in the lawsuit include BW Real Estate LLC and CE Oakland Plumbing and Heating.
Unfortunately for Margie, these heating deficiencies cost her her life. In November 2016, “Ben Widmyer, the apartment’s manager, responded to a call from Stephen Saunders when he found it unusual that his mother didn’t answer the door.” When the two opened the door to check on Margie, they found her lying on the floor, unresponsive. The police and medics were called, and when they arrived Margie was “cold to the touch and didn’t have a pulse,” according to police reports. In fact, the police report also mentioned that one of the first things officer’s noticed upon walking into the apartment was the frigid temperature. Around the time of Margie’s death, outdoor temperatures in the area were dipping down below 20 degrees. One officer noted the following:
“As soon as I entered the apartment, I immediately noticed how cold it was. The last two nights had been under 20 degrees and (Stephen Saunders) later stated there has been no heat in the building since June. Ben (Widmyer) stated that the boiler was supposed to have been fixed on Friday, but he hadn’t heard from the repairman.”
A coroner’s report was later filed that confirmed Margie “died due to hypothermia and ethanol intoxication – ethanol is the principal type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages – while also noting other health conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver and cardiomyopathy.”
So how long had the apartment complex been experiencing issues with its heating system? Well, after arriving at the scene and finding Margie, officers “spoke to five other Royal Arms tenants who said the heat in the building had not been working since June 2014,” according to the police report. An investigation into the matter backed up what the tenants told officers. According to “court documents and invoices, the defendants contacted Oakland Plumbing and Heating in March 2014 regarding a noise with the complex’s boiler system.” While the noise problem was remedied, Oakland Plumbing “suggested in writing that an old pump needed to be replaced in the near future.”
Then, in June, the “heat and hot water in the complex stopped working properly.” Oakland Plumbing made another trip to the complex to replace a recirculation pump on a boiler that the plumbing company “described as ‘No longer repairable’ on a $696 receipt.” Later, “unnamed defendants performed services in an attempt to restore the heat and hot water,” according to the lawsuit. Still, the problem persisted, and in September 2014, Oakland Plumbing was contacted again about the heat issues, and the company “replaced another recirculation pump,” according to written receipts. Even still, the heat and hot water complaints kept pouring in from tenants, and Oakland “determined the pumps for the boiler system needed to be replaced and advised the apartment’s owners to get heaters.”
Unfortunately, the defendants didn’t listen to Oakland’s advice and “three days before Saunders’ death, another tenant notified the defendants that her child woke up with frozen fingers because the heat was off.”
Details of the settlement have yet to be released.
Sources:
Lawsuit alleging woman froze to death in apartment owned by Coeur d’Alene mayor settled
CDA mayor, resort manager named in lawsuit alleging wrongful death
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