Four Ex-Firefighters Take Legal Action

By Cydney Mavian

It’s been nearly three years since the Sofa Super Store fire happened, and yet the incident that claimed the lives of nine South Carolina firefighters is still being dealt with today.

On Tuesday it was announced that four ex-firefighters are suing the West Ashley Sofa Super Store, its owners and several furniture companies, on grounds of physical and emotional trauma caused by the June 18, 2007 blaze. South Carolina’s leading newspaper The Post and Courier covered the story in Tuesday’s publication.

The sofa store and associated businesses are being charged with general negligence, gross negligence and reckless conduct by former captains Kevin Storo, Patrick Sandford, Thomas Buelle and firefighter Jerry Winn, city records show. The lawsuits, which were filed in Charleston County, seek unspecified monetary damages for the injuries suffered by the ex-firefighters.

The Post and Courier reported that according to the former firefighters, the incident left them with serious and uncomfortable skin rashes on their arms and legs, in addition to the intense mental and emotional suffering they have experienced. City records state that the civil action is “arising from the severe, permanent, and debilitating injuries suffered” by the four plaintiffs “during and after, as direct and proximate result of” the 2007 Sofa Super Store blaze. The effects that the fire had on the men are detailed in the lawsuits, which allege that each walked away from the incident with post traumatic stress disorder, angst, and a number of other psychological troubles, which are being jointly referred to as a “nervous breakdown.”

City records show that all four men joined the Fire Department in the 1990s, and all left on disability retirements following the fire that killed nine of their fellow firemen.

Lawsuits, which asserted similar effects caused by the 2007 blaze, were filed earlier this year against the sofa store and associated businesses by four other South Carolina ex-firefighters. Those four former firefighters are Edward Clinton Jones, Gary Taylor, Matthew Roberts and Eric Croft. All of these men filed lawsuits on January 13, 2010 against Sofa Super Store Inc., which are claiming personal injury. All four cases are still pending.

According to Charleston County public records, Kevin Storo and Jerry Winn filed a lawsuit on June 1, 2010 against Sofa Super Store Inc. et al., which allege personal injury. Both Patrick Sandford and Thomas Buelle filed a lawsuit on the same day claiming personal injury against Acme Doors Inc. et al. Attorney Wilson W. Greene is representing all four men in their cases.

There are a total of 43 parties associated with each former firefighter’s lawsuit. 41 of those parties are defendants, and the majority of those 41 defendants are furniture-supplying companies.

There are seven factors listed in the civil court records as contributing to the plaintiffs’ injuries caused by the fire. The factors are being attributed to the West Ashley Sofa Super Store facility, the furniture manufacturers and suppliers, and the manufacturers and suppliers of the roofing and ceiling materials.

The Sofa Super Store facility is being blamed for its failure to install and/or properly maintain reasonable fire suppression systems, specifically the store’s lack of a sprinkler system. Additionally, the sofa store is being held responsible for modifications to its structure, which are thought to have allowed the fire to spread rapidly from one portion of the facility to another. The store’s failure to obtain requisite permits before undertaking multiple additions is also listed as a contributing factor to the plaintiffs’ injuries.

The furniture manufacturers and suppliers of the sofa store are being sued first of all for the manufacture, design, sale, and storage of unreasonably dangerous, and highly flammable furniture items to Sofa Super Store, Inc. These companies are also blamed for their failure to warn of the danger of storing significant quantities of highly flammable items in a facility lacking reasonable fire suppression systems.

The deaths of nine firefighters in the 2007 blaze were definitively accredited to the collapse of the sofa store’s roof, which caged them in with the flames and smoke. As a result, the roofing and ceiling materials are also listed as contributing to the injuries suffered by the four former firefighters.

According to the civil action case file located on the Internet, these roofing material companies are being blamed for the usage and installation of highly flammable, unreasonably dangerous roofing and ceiling materials and roofing component materials at the Sofa Super Store structure. The manufacturers and suppliers of the roofing and ceiling materials are also being sued for their failure to warn of the dangers of the flammability of these products and components.

The dates for these four court cases have yet to be determined. For more information about the lawsuits, visit charlestoncounty.org. The story was covered by The Post and Courier, and published in Tuesday’s newspaper.