Suit In Carbon Monoxide Deaths Of Family Of Four Settled

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Posted on 18th May 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Maybe now their surviving relatives will have some peace.

In 2008 an entire family that had won a stay at a luxurious mansion in Aspen died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the place. The victims were Parker Lofgren, 39, Caroline Lofgren, 42, and their children Owen, 10, and Sophie, 8.

On Thursday, a settlement was reached in the lawsuit brought by their families, according to the Aspen Daily News. There terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Several defendants had previously reached settlements in the case.

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/157966

The Lofgren family died when a boiler that heated the hot water and snow-melt systems in the mansion where they were staying leaked carbon monoxide throughout the house. The boiler had been improperly installed, the suit had charged, and the mansion didn’t have a carbon monoxide detector, the Daily News reported.

The house had a state-of-the-art fire and burglar alarm system, but builders opted not to spend $600 to install hardwired carbon monoxide detectors, according to the local newspaper.

In 2010 the Lofgren relatives filed a wrongful death suit in Denver federal court, naming a host of defendants — many of them builders — in the action. The case was later sent to District Court in Denver.

There had been criminal charges filed against two ex-buildings inspectors who gave the mansion approvals and a plumbing and heating contractor who put in the boiler. But those charges were dismissed.

The litigation was filed by Parker Lofgren’s mother, Jean Rittenour of Portland, Ore., and Caroline Lofgren’s father and sister, Frederick Feuerbach of Lenox, Mass., and Hildy Feuerbach of Rockport, Mass., according to the Daily News.

The Feuerbach family has been crusading for legislation across the country to require residences to have carbon monoxide detectors, the local paper reported. With their lobbying, such laws were passed in Colorado, Maine, Oregon and Washington.

The case also brought attention to Colorado’s wrongful death laws, which don’t give grandparents of victims broad right to sue. In the Lofgren case, the plaintiffs could only seek damages for the deaths of Parker and Caroline Lofgren, not the couple’s two children, according to the Daily News.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Wisconsin Hotel Evacuted Due To Carbon Monoxide Leak

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Posted on 14th May 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Dozens of guests at a hotel in Oshkosh, Wis., were evacuated Monday morning because of a carbon monoxide leak, according to The Oshkosh Northwestern.

 http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20130513/OSH0101/305130299/Oshkosh-hotel-evacuated-after-carbon-monoxide-leak?nclick_check=1

Oshkosh firefighters responded to the Hilton Garden Inn on West 20th Avenue shortly before 5 a.m. after a carbon monoxide detector went off, the local newspaper reported. The first responders found high levels of carbon monoxide in e hotel using their testing meters.

Additional personnel were then sent to the hotel, with 19 firefighters and five ambulances called to the scene. The responders evacuated people from the hotel’s 41 occupied rooms, according to The Northwestern.

Guests were examined to determine if they had any signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, and none did, the newspaper said. Firefighters ventilated the hotel.

The potentially lethal gas leaked from an area that housed the hotel’s mechanicals and laundry equipment, authorities discovered. Hilton had the proper repairs made and the Hilton Garden Inn reopened.

 

 

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Reno Hotel Evacuated After Carbon Monoxide Leak

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Posted on 13th May 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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A Reno, Nev., hotel was evacuated Saturday after several guests got ill from carbon monoxide, according to KTVN-TV.

http://www.ktvn.com/story/22226084/elevated-carbon-monoxide-levels-prompt-evacuation-in-downtown-reno

The Reno Fire Department was called to the El Cortez Hotel after guests said they felt sick around 3:30 p.m., the TV station reported. The respondents detected high levels of carbon monoxide at the hotel, and evacuated it as well as the businesses on its first floor.

According to KTVN, the potentially lethal gas came from two malfunctioning water heaters. Although guests were allowed to return to the El Cortez, they didn’t have hot water overnight.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Missouri Mom Saves Family From Carbon Monoxide

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Posted on 13th May 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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A Missouri mother did her family a good deed on Mother’s Day: She saved them from dying of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The incident happened in Florissant, Mo., when a mother woke up about 8 a.m. in her home on Stonehaven, according to Fox2Now. It’s unclear exactly how and why from the story, but the woman saw that her children and other occupants in the home were acting oddly.

http://fox2now.com/2013/05/12/carbon-monoxide-poisoning-sends-eight-to-the-hospital/

In a smart, quick-thinking move, she opened up the windows in the residence and began evacuating people from inside.

According to Fox2Now, the mother and seven other people, aged one-year-old to teenagers, were outside and still conscious. But they were also lethargic, and all eight were sent to area hospitals.

So where did the carbon monoxide come from? Authorities told Fox2Now that the family was running an attic fan and a furnace at the same time while the home’s windows were closed. That created “a down drafting” of the lethal gas, filling the house with carbon monoxide.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Carbon Monoxide Leak At Pa. Hotel Hospitalizes Two

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Posted on 12th May 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Two guests were hospitalized Friday night after a carbon monoxide leak at a Lancaster, Pa., hotel, according to Fox 43.

http://fox43.com/2013/05/11/carbon-monoxide-leak-at-heritage-hotel-linked-to-malfunctioning-boiler/#axzz2T32dJCDh

The incident happened at the Heritage Hotel on Centerville Road. The hotel was evacuated after two guests got sick and had the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, Fox 43 said.

The two ill guests were brought to a local hospital for treatment, and then were released.

Firefighters who responded to the scene detected high carbon monoxide levels, which they found came from a malfunctioning boiler, on the second and third floors of the hotel, Fox 43 reported.

The hotel’s owner issued a statement, according to the TV station.

“The safety of our guests and our staff is our No. 1 priority,” Matt DeRose, president of Heritage Hotel Lancaster & Heritage Hospitality, said in a statement. “As you can imagine this news came as a shock. We have been working around the clock on this matter.”‘

 

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Army Sued For $124 Million In Clarksville Carbon Monoxide Deaths

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Posted on 2nd May 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The U.S. Army is being sued for $124 million by the families of five people who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a trailer at the Clarksville Speedway in Tennessee, according to The Tennessean.

 http://www.theleafchronicle.com/viewart/20130501/NEWS01/305010019/

The victims had rented their trailer from an Army RV rental business on Sept. 16, 2011. The next night, the group operated a generator outside of the trailer in order to run an air conditioner. Their bodies were discovered the next morning, The Tennessean reported.

The  lawsuit charges that Gear-to-Go, the Army business, was negligent by failing to put new batteries in the trailer’s carbon monoxide detector, according to the newspaper.

The five victims were members of Bikers Who Care, a charity that aids needy children. They are themselves survived by 13 kids. They were at the speedway to watch the 30th annual Leslie W. Watson Memorial Toy Run.

The Tennessean reported that the deceased were: Timothy Bryan Stone, 39; James Franklin Wall II, 38, and his girlfriend Allison Bagwell-Wyatt, 32; Jonathan Michael Over, 27, and his wife Kathryn Over, 27.

 

 

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Eau Claire Family Saved From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

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Posted on 19th April 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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A family in Eau Claire, Wis., was rescued from potentially fatal carbon monoxide poisoning Wednesday night, which came from a generator in their basement, according to WEAU-TV.

http://www.weau.com/news/headlines/Family-rescued-from-Carbon-Monoxide-poisoning–203517181.html?ref=181

The local fire department was called to a home on Reserve Street, where two children had already exited and were standing with their grandmother, WEAU reported.

The first responders had carbon monoxide meters that showed them there were high levels of the lethal gas present in the house, according to WEAU. The parents were inside the home, unresponsive. They were taken to a hospital for medical treatment.

The source of the carbon monoxide was a generator that the family had operating in its basement, WEAU said. The Eau Claire fire chief advised town residents that gas-powered generators need to be kept outside and far enough away from a residence that its fumes can’t be blown back into the building by any wind, WEAU reported.

The home did not have any carbon monoxide detectors, according to authorities.

 

 

 

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Man Commits Suicide, Kills Family By Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

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Posted on 17th April 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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A Pennsylvania man apparently bent on committing suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning also managed to kill his wife and two daughters in the process Monday, according to Philly.com.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130417_Four_dead_of_apparent_carbon_monoxide_poisoning_in_Bucks.html

Gary Reitnauer, of the Bucks County town of Milford Township, killed himself by leaving his car running in the family’s garage. He broke the latch on the garage door, Philly.com reported, apparently in an effort to stop anyone from coming in.

I doubt, I certainly would hope to think, that Reitnauer was only planning to end his own life. But carbon monoxide is a very toxic, lethal gas, and it seeped into the rest of the house from the garage. His wife Michele, 58, tried to rescue him by breaking a window, according to Philly.com.

But she was overcome by the fumes, as were the couple’s daughters Kimberly, 16, and Jamie, 10. Authorities found all three of them dead in the house.

So this is a tragedy compounded upon tragedy, I’m sorry to say.

 

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Mom Rescues Family From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning With Call

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Posted on 16th April 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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A woman worried about the welfare of her husband and two sons when she didn’t hear from them may have saved their lives from carbon monoxide poisoning with a phone call, according to WSBT-TV.

http://www.wsbt.com/news/wsbt-wife-saves-husband-and-sons-from-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-with-phone-call-20130415,0,7113130.story

The woman, who was in Illinois, grew concerned Sunday when she had not heard from her family in Keeler Township, Mich. The husband had complained to her Saturday night that his furnace wasn’t working right, WSBT reported.

When she didn’t hear from them Sunday, she called police about 5 p.m. in Michigan and asked them to check on her family. When deputies got to the house, the 11-year-old son was asleep in the living room, apparently suffering from carbon monoxide  poisoning. According to WSBT, the boy initially saw the officer at the door and then went back to lie down.

Police finally got the boy to open the door, and were told that the father did not want to come out to see them.

The father was semi-conscious in a bedroom, while the 13-year-old son came out of the bathroom, where he had been knocked out on the floor, WSBT reported.

Authorities called an ambulance and all three victims were taken to local hospitals for treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

For Safety’s Sake, Get Two Kinds Of Smoke Alarms

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Posted on 6th April 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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I write about carbon monoxide poisoning and the necessity for carbon monoxide detectors in this blog, but I’m going to digress and talk about smoke alarms.

That’s because while most people think they are safe with just one type of smoke detector, the frightening truth is that they aren’t. The NBC  show “Dateline” recently did a great report, a potentially life-saving report, on why people need both ionization and photoelectric smoke detectors to truly be safe from fire.

I didn’t know, and I doubt most people are aware, that there even are two kinds of smoke alarms. Consumer Reports laid out the issue on them quite well, coming up with the same advice that “Dateline” did: You need both.

http://homes.yahoo.com/news/why-you-need-two-kinds-of-smoke-alarms-030151751.html

The most typical smoke alarm found in homes works on ionization technology. And while these kinds of alarms successfully detect fires that flare up in flames, they don’t perform well when it comes to detecting smoldering fires, such as might start in a couch, according to Consumer Reports.

“Dateline” set up a demonstration where it had three ionization smoke detectors in a room where a soldering iron had been inserted in a couch pillow, starting it to slowly burn without any immediate flames. It took about a half hour for the three ionizatiion detectors to go off, triggered by smoke. The couch then burst into flames.

They did that demonstration again, but this time included one photoelectric smoke alarm along with the three ionization alarms.  The photoelectric alarm went off very shortly after the couch started smolderling.

However, photoelectric smoke detectors, which are more expensive than the ionization ones, aren’t good at detecting flaming fires.

That’s why Consumer Reports and “Dateline” recommend that you install both ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms, or that you buy and install one that employs both technologies.

Consumer Reports also wisely recommends that people install carbon monoxide detectors in their homes, which it said is important now that more people are using generators during storms.

Consumer Reports has a buying guide for both smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/co-and-smoke-alarms.htm?EXTKEY=AYAHRE02

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

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