Final Lawsuits Filed in Charleston Sofa Super Store Fire

Posted by: Curt Varone June 24, 2010 0

Two more lawsuits were filed last week over the Charleston Sofa Super Store fire on the last day before the statute of limitations closed the incident to further civil litigation. The fire resulted in the deaths of nine Charleston firefighters. The two new suits bring the total of known suits arising out of the incident to 19.

South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 15-3-530 provides for a 3 year statute of limitations for suits alleging personal injury or wrongful death. The fire occurred on June 18, 2007, making the final day to file suit June 18, 2010, which was last Friday.

The suits were filed by two retired firefighters, Thad Morgan and Captain Reginald Westbrook. Like the previous cases, both suits allege negligence and reckless conduct by the store owners and product suppliers, claiming that fire code violations, illegal additions, and highly flammable building components and products contributed to the tragedy.

The two new suits join nine separate wrongful death lawsuits previously filed by the families of deceased Captain Louis Mulkey, Captain Mike Benke, Melven Champaign, Captain William "Billy" Hutchinson, Bradford "Brad" Baity, James "Earl" Drayton, Mark Kelsey, Michael French, and Brandon Thompson, four individual suits filed in January, 2010 on behalf of firefighters Edward Clinton Jones, Gary Taylor, Matthew Roberts and Eric Croft, and four additional suits filed on June 1, 2010, on behalf of Captains Kevin Storo, Patrick Sandford, Thomas Buell and firefighter Jerry Winn. The suits were filed in Charleston County Court of Common Pleas.

About Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 45 years of fire service experience and 35 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.
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