Thirty-nine people affected by the deadly, catastrophic Gabriel House fire have combined their efforts to get justice, in a massive civil lawsuit against the assisted living facility’s owners – and have expanded the scope of the charges to include accusations of abuse and neglect at the facility.

 

A series of separate lawsuits against Gabriel Care LLC, owner Dennis Etzkorn, fire systems inspection company Fire Systems Inc. and others, have been combined into one master complaint.

 

But it has been revised to name even more defendants and lodge 49 charges of negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation, civil conspiracy and much more.

 

The civil suit, 130 pages long, also indicates further defendants may be added in the future when their identities are revealed during the discovery process.

 

The lawsuit alleges that even before the fire, Gabriel House was unsafe for residents, with operators knowingly letting people live in hazardous conditions. Poorly trained staff turned a blind eye to residents smoking near oxygen, the suit alleges, did not report safety violations as they should have, and were improperly trained for emergencies, showing a “reckless disregard for the safety and well-being of the property’s vulnerable residents.”

 

See more at heraldnews.com.