Lawsuit filed over Chicago fire that killed 4 kids

By - Associated Press - Wednesday, September 10, 2014

CHICAGO (AP) - A lawsuit has been filed against the owner of a Chicago apartment building where a fire killed four children this week, attorneys announced Wednesday.

It was filed late Tuesday on behalf of the mother of a man who jumped from a third-floor window and was critically injured while escaping the blaze.

The lawsuit contends the 18-unit building was unsafe and accuses owner Tahir Sheikh of suburban Oak Brook and J & J Management and Construction, Inc., of failing to adequately equip the third-floor apartment with fire escape routes and working smoke detectors.

There were no working smoke detectors in that third-floor unit or the one on the second floor where the blaze started, according to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

Sheikh said earlier this week that the management company informed him last month that all tenants had signed statements acknowledging they had working smoke detectors, the Chicago Sun-Times reported (http://bit.ly/1rGYPQJ ). Debra Jenkins, an agent for the company, told the newspaper all tenants had detectors as of Sept. 4.

Mondays fire began shortly after 3 a.m. and raced up a stairwell, trapping four children in their bedrooms and forcing their mother and her boyfriend, Nate Johnson, to leap from a third-story window.

Lawyers representing Johnsons mother released a statement Wednesday saying he suffered burns and smoke inhalation in addition to injuries from leaping from the window.

Sheikh did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the lawsuit.

He told reporters Tuesday that he was heartbroken over the childrens deaths.

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Lawsuit filed over Chicago fire that killed 4 kids