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player ready...Two families who lost members in the 2011 Claim Street fire in Aurora will share nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit against the building’s owner.
The May 15, 2011, fire killed six people — Cristina Dominguez; her son, 8-month-old Alex Gonzaga; and Micaela Perez, Francisco Marcos and their sons Francisco Marcos Jr. and Jose Marcos — living in the apartment building located at 760 Claim St. A lawsuit filed against the building owners, Jose and Lucilla Ayala, alleged the apartment did not have enough smoke detectors and was generally defective in its design.
The 2011 lawsuit filed by the victims’ estates and others who were injured in the blaze stated that the building was “defective in that the apartment units and common areas lacked self-closing doors and the required number of working smoke detectors as required by law.” Additionally, the suit claimed units located in the front of the building on the second and third floors were unprotected from smoke and fire on the first floor, which prevented a safe exit route from the building, court documents show.
Aurora fire officials determined the blaze likely was caused by an electrical spark from a television or an unattended candle in apartment No. 2, located in the building’s southwest corner on the first floor. An open door to the common stairwell allowed the fire to spread to the second- and third-floor common areas, firefighters said at the time.
A court filing indicates a settlement has been agreed upon in which the Marcos and Gonzaga families will share in a distribution of $983,847, while the remaining portion of approximately $16,153 will go to the family of Manuel and Manuela Ramirez, who, along with their children, jumped from a third-floor window to escape the early-morning fire, which left a total of nine families homeless. A March 8 hearing has been scheduled to formalize the settlement distributions.
The $1 million represents the full amount available from the Ayalas’ insurance policy, according to attorney John Perconti, who represented the Marcos and Gonzaga families.
“Considerable time was spent investigating potential defendants and verifying there were no additional monies available to compensate the families for this tragic loss,” Perconti said.
The Ayalas’ attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News