IMPOSSIBLE SMOKE ALARM CASE

As happens in most cases that come to our office, we were presented with a problem faced by our client. His family was shattered by a fire in their apartment that killed his wife and two of his children. There was no obvious cause for the fire and the owner of the apartment house was denying responsibility. Proper smoke alarms were not installed in the apartment. The case had been reviewed by two other law firms and declined as Texas has a statute that exempts a property owner from liability unless a written request is made for a smoke alarm. Carmen Mitchell of our firm determined that since the apartment was HUD housing that other laws applied and that although the property owner was freed from liability, the management company of the apartment was not. The case was tried to verdict for her clients and settled after verdict for a substantial amount of money.