Second lawsuit filed in Edgewater apartment building fire

January 29, 2015, 6:01 PM Last updated: Thursday, January 29, 2015, 7:41 PM

By PETER J. SAMPSON

Marko Georgiev/ Staff photographer

A day after the five-alarm fire, the rubble and wreckage were still charred and smoking.

A mother and daughter who lost everything when their unit at the Avalon at Edgewater luxury apartment complex went up in flames last week on Thursday became the second set of tenants to sue their landlord, claiming negligence led to the inferno.

Sarah Jacobo, an executive assistant at an Edgewater specialty food company, and her daughter, Lisette Jacobo, an account training manager in New York City, were driving home on Jan. 21 when the thick smoke pouring from the two-building, four-story complex turned them away.

They lost everything, said their attorney, Barry D. Epstein of Rochelle Park. Its a very emotional situation and a difficult situation to cope with, he added.

The suit names AvalonBay Communities Inc., and Avalon Bay River Mews, owners and landlords of the 408-unit complex, as defendants, along with other as yet unknown individuals and companies, who together are claimed to be liable for the losses, property damages, emotional distress, mental anguish, and pain and suffering the Jacobos say they were forced to endure.

The suit also seeks punitive damages, claiming the defendants conduct was malicious and recklessly disregarded and was indifferent to the interests of others, including the plaintiffs.

Without being specific, the suit claims the defendants violated applicable statutes and/or building codes and standards and safety procedures and that, as a result, a fire was negligently caused to be started that destroyed more than half of the complex.

Continue reading here:
Second lawsuit filed in Edgewater apartment building fire