Apt. Where Marine Died Was Warned Of Carbon Monoxide Leaks

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Posted on 2nd June 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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In 2012, an 18-year-old Marine died of carbon monoxide poisoning in an apartment in Idaho. There  is a lawsuit pending over the death of McQuen Forbush. And information reported last week by the Idaho Statesman may help the plaintiffs in that case.

The newspaper got a-hold of internal documents from the former property management company for the Sagecrest Apartments, the garden apartment complex in Meridian where Forbush died. And that report said that there had been prior problems with carbon monoxide leaks at Sagecrest, which apparently didn’t adequately address the issue.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/05/31/2597508/property-warned-about-deadly-gas.html

Forbush died Nov. 10, while his girlfriend Breanna Halowell was hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning and survived.

But about a year and a half before that, on July 28, 2011, First Rate Property Management warned Sagecrest that two dozen water heaters were creating high carbon monoxide levels, according to the Idaho Statesman. An attached plumber’s report said the problem needed to be addressed, otherwise tenants could “suffer health problems or death.”

The property maintenance supervisor actually distributed carbon monoxide detectors and warning letters to the apartments that had the high CO levels, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Nobody seems to know, however, if the water heaters in the apartment where Forbush and his girlfriend had been staying among those cited in 2011.

Most of the apartment units had washer and dryer units in a closet with a water heaters, a dangerous situation since lint from the dryer can clog the filter on the water heaters, preventing venting, the Idaho Statesman reported.

The wrongful death suit filed by Forbush’s fanily named the apartment owner, the property owners’ association, the property manager and the water heater designer and maker.

In an interesting note, the contractor on the apartment complex in May filed a tort claim against Meridian, charging that the city had approved plans for the property and inspected it, the Idaho Statesman reported. That review and the inspection was “grossly negligent,” the claim alleges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Woman Dies After Suffering Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Boating

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Posted on 31st May 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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One of the two people who were hospitalized after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning Sunday while boating has died, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/05/30/2527743/woman-dead-nacimiento-lake.html

The victim was Sandy Valencia, 23, of Salinas, Calif., according to a press release from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department.

http://www.slosheriff.org/_Press/PRView.aspx

The release said that Valencia was declared legally dead Monday, but had been kept on life support until Thursday, when an organ donation procedure was completed.

Valencia and an unidentified man were boating on Lake Nacimiento, and apparently got carbon monoxide poisoning by sitting in the back of boat near the engine exhaust. When sheriff’s officers and Monterey County Park Rangers on patrol were flagged down, Valencia  was not breathing. The responders initiated CPR.

Both victims were transported to a local hospital.

 

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.

Couple Gets Carbon Monoxide Poisoning While Boating

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Posted on 29th May 2013 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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A couple that had been boating on Nacimiento Lake in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., was hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning Sunday, according to The Tribune News.

 http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/05/28/2524836/nacimiento-lake-carbon-monoxide.html

The man and woman were in their boat’s stern and apparently breathed in exhaust from its engine, the newspaper reported.

Sheriff’s deputies were called over to the boat at about 4 p.m. Sunday, where they had to perform CPR on the woman because she wasn’t breathing, according to The Tribune News.

Both the woman and the man were transported by ambulance to Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton.

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.

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.

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