Dec. 17--The mother of a woman who was killed in a 2011 fatal fire is suing the owners of the property in a wrongful death complaint.
Monica Duckett's daughter Jonette Chacon, 19, died Dec. 13, 2011, and she is suing Fred Sheets and Tina Snodgrass. The wrongful death complaint was filed in Allen Superior Court on Monday against Sheets, the owner of the residence used as a rental property at 4114 Robinwood Drive and Snodgrass. The court documents state that the defendants were negligent in failing to warn Chacon of conditions within the premises that they knew or should have known could cause her harm.
The documents also said the defendants were negligent in failing to comply with city fire code. Chacon's parents have incurred medical, funeral and burial expenses and attorney's fees as a result of her death, according to the complaint. It also cites that they suffered other damages for the loss of her services and loss of love and companionship. They are asking for an unspecified amount.
The house fire, which started at around 3:37 a.m., also killed Chacon's fiance, Carson W. Tubbs, 20.Tubbs' mother, who awoke to the smell of smoke, called 911 after escaping the house with her daughter. Just four minutes later, the house was engulfed in heavy smoke and flames.
Investigators confirmed Dec 23, 2011, that no smoke alarm likely had been installed in the home to alert its occupants of danger when the blaze erupted.
After the fire was contained, investigators said they found no evidence of a working smoke detector, and department spokeswoman Stacey Fleming said officials still don't believe an alarm was in the house at the time of the blaze.
The fire was ruled electrical and had started near a power outlet in the home's southwest corner, Fleming said. Investigators previously said the blaze likely started behind a Christmas tree. The cause of the fire has been ruled accidental.
Tubbs and Chacon both died from smoke inhalation. It was the first fatal blaze in Fort Wayne since Dec. 31, 2010.
Copyright 2013 - The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
