A wrongful-death lawsuit against the owner and operator of The Landings at Rock Creek Apartments on Chenal Parkway in Little Rock, where a woman died in a fire in August 2016, was set Wednesday to be tried beginning Jan. 14.
The lawsuit, alleging negligence by Maxus Properties Inc., which operates the 154-unit complex that occupies nine buildings at 13200 Chenal Parkway, and Landings Acquisition LLC, the owner, was originally filed Nov. 3 in Pulaski County Circuit Court. It was transferred to federal court Dec. 8 and is being heard by U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes.
In the suit, Anthony "Tony" Joseph Dillon contends that the companies were negligent in maintaining the complex, which resulted in the death of his sister, Jannell Dillon, early Aug. 19, 2016.
Jannell Dillon, 58, was a lawyer who lived in Apartment 130, a ground-floor unit, when a fire ignited during the night of Aug. 18. The lawsuit alleges that a required smoke detector in the woman's apartment failed to sound, as did another smoke detector in an adjoining apartment, from which a 911 call was placed.
The lawsuit says evidence indicated that Dillon tried to escape, and that firefighters found her charred body, curled in a fetal position and facing the door, covered by debris from a collapsed ceiling. The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Paul James and Don Overton of Little Rock, says the cause of the fire was never determined.
The attorneys said in the suit that the smoke detector in Apartment 130 was installed more than 13 years before the fire and had been in place more than three years beyond its manufacturer-designated 10-year maximum life span.
They said it wasn't installed properly or maintained properly, "as is evident from the fact that it (1) was not wired on a stand-alone independent circuit, and (2) was improperly installed in a shared circuit along with numerous receptacles and outlets located in the kitchen area."
The wiring of the hard-wired device violated the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, and the device didn't have a battery backup in the event of a power interruption, they alleged.
The complex participates in a Section 8 rental-assistance program regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and was required to be maintained in strict compliance with the Federal Statutory Authority, the lawsuit states.
It says the complex also was required to be in strict compliance with the city's housing code. As such, it contends, the owner and operator were required to "maintain a properly installed, maintained and functioning smoke detector" in each apartment.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for Jannell Dillon's pain and suffering, and for her siblings' mental anguish. It also seeks reimbursement for her funeral expenses and punitive damages.
All units at the complex were believed to be occupied at the time of the fire, which was reported at 9:08 a.m.
Metro on 03/15/2018