Dec. 10--WAPELLO -- A Louisa County jury Monday awarded $750,000 in damages to the family of a man killed when fire trapped him inside a burning boarding house in Columbus Junction in March 2011.
The four-woman, four-man jury deliberated about three hours before awarding the monetary damages to the family of James Mitchell, the 57-year-old man who died in the blaze.
Jurors awarded Mitchell's estate $500,000 in actual damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.
"We are very satisfied with the hard work of the judge and jury in this case," said Nicholas Pothitakis, the Burlington attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Mitchell's estate. "No amount of money will bring Mr. Mitchell back. But we are satisfied with the jury's decision."
Pressley Henningsen, Pothitakis' co-counsel, had asked the jury for $2 million in damages. He sought $1.5 million in actual damages and $500,000 in punitive damages, claiming the jury needed to send a message to the community that landlords cannot disregard the safety of tenants.
"This is a case about a man (Paul Buffington) who made the decision not to do the right things for his tenants," Henningsen told the jury during closing arguments Monday. "Mr. Mitchell died because of those decisions."
Court observers said it could be one of the largest, if not the largest, monetary judgement ever awarded in a Louisa County civil case.
In reaching its decision, the jury determined the owners of the boarding house, Paul and Carol Buffington, operated it in a negligent manner.
In a surprise move Monday morning, Brian Yung, an attorney representing the Buffingtons, told District Judge Michael Schilling he would not present any witnesses on behalf of his clients. He also said the Buffingtons decided not to testify.
However, Yung told Schilling the Buffingtons would admit in court documents they were negligent by failing to provide two exits for the safety of the residents of the boarding house, by failing to install and maintain working windows in each sleeping room and for failing to install smoke detectors in each sleeping room.
Jurors were informed of the Buffingtons' admissions in instructions provided to them prior to beginning deliberations.
Henningsen, who indicated he spent two years working on the case, said it was inappropriate for Mr. Buffington to come into court on the day he was expected to testify and admit what he wouldn't admit since Mitchell's death almost three years ago: that he was negligent by not installing safety features in the boarding house as required by law.
At the core of the lawsuit was the amount of "pre-death mental anguish, pain and suffering" Mitchell experienced while trapped inside his 10-by-17-foot sleeping room.
Evidence at the trial indicated the fire began about 2:35 p.m. In the intervening 14 minutes, Mitchell made 19 cellphone calls attempting to seek help. His calls, to a land line phone, were not answered.
Mitchell was found several hours after the blaze was extinguished on the floor near his bed. An autopsy indicated he died from carbon monoxide poisoning after breathing toxic smoke from the flash fire that raced through the two-story building in a manner of minutes.
A second man, Timonthy Miles, 52, also was killed in the blaze. He was found outside his sleeping room in a hallway leading to the front door. His estate has not filed any lawsuits in connection with his death. Several other people escaped the blaze with minor injuries.
Henningsen told the jury the $2 million in damages seems like a lot of money, "but it isn't when you consider what Mr. Mitchell went through" in the minutes prior to his death.
"He was alone," Heninngsen said. "He felt terror and fear knowing he was going to die ... It wasn't just a feeling. He knew he was going to die.
"I know $2 million is a lot of money ... but knowing you are going to die by fire is worth a lot of money.
"I want you to hold (the Buffingtons) accountable for how they have treated people for decades."
However, Yung argued while Mitchell died in the blaze, he suffered little "pre-death mental anguish, pain and suffering." Yung said evidence showed Mitchell was overcome by carbon monoxide shortly after the fire started.
"This man (Mitchell) did not feel any pain from the burns to his body," he told the jury. "He was already unconscious (and maybe dead from carbon monoxide poisoning) when the flames reached his room. If there is any solace in this evidence, it's clear he wouldn't have been thinking clearly when he lost consciousness."
Yung suggested the jury award $40,000 to $50,000 to the family, instead of the $2 million, because the amount of pain and suffering Mitchell withstood was blown out of proportion by his attorneys.
However, Henningsen scoffed at the $40,000 to $50,000 figure.
"That's about the price of a new pickup truck," he said. "I assure you Mr. Mitchell's life was worth more than that."
In the lawsuit, Pothitakis claimed the Buffingtons were negligent because they:
--Failed to provide appropriate entrance and exit points;
--Purposely blocked or locked alternate exits;
--Failed to provide appropriate and necessary fire detectors;
--Failed to provide a fire exit plan to tenants; and
--Did not provide window for the sleeping rooms.
Authorities have described the boarding house as a dormitory-type building with nine ground-floor sleeping rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom the tenants shared.
The kitchen was in the front of the building, while the rooms were in the rear. The Iowa Fire Marshal's office ruled the blaze accidental, saying it was caused after food cooking on a stove was left unattended.
Investigators said to escape the blaze, Mitchell and Miles would have had to go through the area where the fire started.
Most of the residents living on the first floor worked at the Tyson Foods meatpacking plant in Columbus Junction. They paid $55 a week for their sleeping rooms.
Henningsen called seven witnesses to the stand, including Joseph Fleming, a 30-year veteran of the Boston Fire Department.
Testifying as an expert witness, Fleming called the boarding house a "death trap."
"The way the building was designed, I would have to call it a death trap," Fleming said during questioning by Henningsen.
"There was no way for them to be rescued or to get out on their own," Fleming said. "Even if there had been a second exit, the building still would have been illegal under (the 2009 International Fire Code that governs Iowa state law) because there were no windows in the sleeping rooms."
In his closing argument, Henningsen told the jury his feelings about the trial.
"I think in this type of case, what matters is life, love and how you treat other people," Heninngsen told the jury. "In cases like this, you need to hold people accountable for how they treat other people. Your verdict will send a message that this is not how we are going to treat people in Louisa County."
Copyright 2013 - The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa
