A Pennsylvania woman has filed a lawsuit against the estate of her children’s grandmother, who, along with her two grandsons, died in a fire at the elderly woman’s New Jersey home in July.
The blaze broke out inside Grace Colby Drury’s home in West Orange on July 13 around 11 a.m., NJ.com reported.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, the home on Liberty Street was already filled with heavy smoke caused by a small kitchen fire, authorities said. Inside, they found Drury and her grandchildren, Aiden Drury, 8, and Anthony Drury, 3, already unresponsive.
First responders rendered aid to the victims, but to no avail. All three were pronounced dead on the scene.
According to a new lawsuit filed by the boys’ mother, Jennifer Daugherty, Drury failed to maintain the property in a “reasonably safe condition.” The suit goes on to accuse of the grandmother of negligence, claiming adequate fire prevention measures could have prevented Aiden and Anthony’s deaths.
In addition to Drury’s estate, the suit also takes aim at Wertheimer & Sons, Inc., a Montville-based contractor that previously did work on the home after a separate fire. At no point, though, did the workers install functioning smoke detectors, which showed a disregard for property safety standards, according to the court documents, cited by NJ.com.
Dougherty is seeking monetary damages for wrongful death, funeral expenses, and the emotional suffering caused by the loss of her children.
