Lawsuit claims Miami Gardens condo failed to fix fire alarm system before massive blaze
Attorneys announced Wednesday they have filed a lawsuit against a condo association and a property management company claiming they didn’t fix a fire alarm system before a blaze gutted a Miami Gardens apartment complex and displaced more than 100 residents in late January.
Herbert Touzalin, Emma Williams, James Simpson, Betty Scott and Karol Pollard, the association’s members of the board of directors at the time of the fire, are also being sued in their individual capacity.
Shekita Whitfield, a former tenant of the New World Condo Apartments, 395 NW 177th St., contends their “failure to address the fire alarm system contributed to the rapid spread of the fire” on Jan. 28.
She also accuses them of not securing insurance required by Florida law after it was canceled because the two-story apartment complex didn’t pass the insurance company’s inspection.
In 2021, an inspection required by Miami-Dade County also identified needed repairs to the roof, the electrical system and fire alarm components. But the inspection’s report, prepared by Morandi Engineering and Construction, a company based in Boca Raton, said the building was structurally and electrically safe while repairs could be made. The Herald was unable to confirm whether the repairs were completed.
Yolanda P. Strader of the Strader Paschal law firm, one of the attorneys representing Whitfield, made the announcement about the lawsuit Wednesday during a news conference at the city’s Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex, where 13 families (24 people) affected by the fire remained sheltered as of Wednesday. The lawyers expect additional fire victims to join the Feb. 24 class action lawsuit, which seeks damages in excess of $8.6 million, Strader told reporters.
“Amid an ongoing affordable housing crisis, hundreds of residents were displaced as a result of the fire, many of whom lost nearly all of their possessions,” the Strader Paschal PLLC and Lomax Legal PLLC law firms said Wednesday in a news release. “The complaint filed on behalf of a resident and similarly situated individuals alleges the condo association, its board of directors, and their management company were negligent for ignoring blatant signs that could have prevented” the fire and its rapid spread on January 28th.”
Denise Chambers, who worked as property manager for Prestige Management Solutions at the time of the fire, didn’t immediately respond to the emailed request for comment sent Thursday by the Herald.
Condo association under new management
This lawsuit is just the latest legal challenge facing the residents of the New World Condo Apartments.
On Feb. 7, Judge Carlos Lopez of the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade appointed retired Judge David M. Gersten as “receiver” over the condo association in response to an emergency petition filed by several property owners four days after the fire. These owners are Louis Jean Baptiste, Cardinal Andrews and Valerie Hunter.
READ MORE: More than 100 residents displaced by a major fire at a Miami Gardens condo building
According to westlaw.com, a receivership is a provisional remedy that the court uses to appoint a neutral representative known as a receiver to temporarily take control of, manage, and protect property to prevent it from being dissipated or disposed of while the parties finish litigating their dispute.
READ MORE: Here’s how to support residents displaced by major fire at a Miami Gardens condo building
The receiver also has the power, Lopez ordered, to collect the debts and assessments from condo owners, levy special assessments from the owners and liquidate the apartment’s property and assets, as necessary. However, complete liquidation of the estate or major construction requiring more than $250,000 in costs would require additional court approval.
“This court finds that the nearly total destruction of the New World Condominium Apartments is the result of the association’s neglect and inaction,” Lopez’s court order says.
