Philadelphia, Pa. Residents Given Green Light to Sue After Fire in Apartment Complex

Former residents of West Philadelphia's Windermere Court Apartments, destroyed by a five-alarm fire more than two years ago, have been given the green light to bring a class-action lawsuit against the property owners.

In a ruling this week, Common Pleas Court Judge Mary D. Colins said anyone who lived in the four-story building at 48th and Walnut Streets when it burned can join a lawsuit filed by two former renters seeking thousands of dollars to pay for property damage and postfire expenses.

The suit alleges that the owners failed to equip the building with adequate fire alarm and sprinkler systems, and that negligence caused the blaze.

An attorney for the owners, Aron, David, and Sam Ginsberg of New York, did not return a call seeking comment.

The Windermere, a 90-unit building that housed about 100 people, caught fire shortly after 2:30 p.m. Jan. 10, 2011. The cause is unclear, but fire officials said that after the fire sparked, flames spread through the walls.

More than 160 firefighters battled the blaze for close to four hours. No one was injured, but the building was declared so unstable after the fire that tenants were never allowed back inside to retrieve their belongings or pets.

In the following days, tenants were outraged to learn that the owners planned to demolish the building without trying to salvage what remained inside. Tenants also accused the owners of failing to secure the property. When members of the local SPCA obtained a warrant to search for pets, they saw that many apartments had been looted.

The owners eventually allowed a demolition company to let people inside to salvage personal property, and the building was demolished in the following months.

A motion by the Center City law firm Caroselli Beachler McTiernan & Conboy, which is bringing the suit, asked that the tenants be permitted to sue as a group because their grievances stem from the same causes.

The motion argued: "Certain variables will affect determinations on damages: which residents had insurance, which did not; was property damaged by fire, smoke, water or theft, or was it destroyed when the building was razed? But the underlying question - were defendants negligent - is the same for all."

Contact Allison Steele at 215-854-2641 or [email protected].