Occupants of a unit in a Penticton, B.C., apartment building that was the site of a deadly 2020 fire are being sued.
William Walter Ten Veen and Cheryl Lynn Samuels were owners of a second-floor unit at the Elm Street building in Oct. 27 2020, when fire erupted and tore through the building.
“The fire was caused by improperly, negligent and carelessly discarded smoking materials” within their unit, according to two civil claims filed by former apartment tenants Dominque Gautier, Wade Haft and Nora Hunt-Haft.
Read more: Two dead in Penticton condo complex fire
Both lawsuits claim that the fire spread from Ten Veen and Samuels’ unit and caused damage to their homes and they, in turn suffered financial loss related to the contents within their unit as well as rising housing costs that followed the fire.
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They claim in separate suits filed by Bilkey Law Corp that Ten Veen and Samuels’s actions, negligence, and breaches of duty are the cause of the fire and they failed to exercise reasonable care when smoking at the home. As such, they are seeking an undisclosed amount of compensation.
Shaken residents of a fatal condo complex fire in Penticton are saddened to learn two people died in the blaze
Ten Veen and Samuels have yet to respond to either of the civil claims and no allegations within have been proven. At the time of the fire, Penticton Fire Chief Larry Watkinson would not confirm what the direct cause for the fire was but did say it was accidental in nature.
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The fire that killed William and Margaret Taylor displaced dozens of Penticton residents and reconstruction of the building has yet to be completed.
Read more: Fatal Penticton, B.C., condo blaze deemed accidental in nature: investigators
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Their deaths were not confirmed until a day later, when firefighters were searching the heavily-damaged building to determine whether everyone was able to escape safely.
Firefighters initially had to wait for a structural engineering assessment of the building to determine if it was safe for them to go in and perform a thorough search of the complex.
Watkinson declined an interview on the fire, given the civil suits.
