OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on lawsuits filed in connection to deadly California warehouse fire (all times local):
1:05 p.m.
Relatives of 18 people who died in a Northern California warehouse fire are suing the building’s owner, the primary leaseholder and others for wrongful death.
Their individual lawsuits were consolidated into one master complaint Tuesday in Oakland. Lead attorney Mary Alexander says she expects families of the 18 others who died in the Dec. 2 Oakland fire to join the lawsuit.
The 36 who died were attending an unlicensed concert in the warehouse when the fire broke out.
The consolidated lawsuit also on Tuesday added the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. utility firm as a defendant.
The lawsuit alleges the utility should have known the warehouse’s electrical hookups were hazardous.
Authorities have not determined the fire’s cause but have they are investigating an electrical cause.
PG&E did not immediately return phone and telephone messages seeking comment.
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12:01 a.m.
Attorneys representing the families of people who died in an Oakland warehouse fire that broke out during an unlicensed concert plan to file a lawsuit against the building’s owner and manager.
Lawyer Mary Alexander says she will file the so-called master complaint in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland on Tuesday. Several families have filed individual lawsuits alleging unsafe conditions existed at the warehouse known as the Ghost Ship existed long before the Dec. 2 fire killed 36 partygoers. Alexander said those lawsuits will be litigated at the same time before a single judge.
District Attorney Nancy O’Malley says she is investigating whether criminal charges should be filed against the building’s owner, Chor Nar Siu Ng, and the building’s leaseholder, Derick Almena. Ng and Almena didn’t return calls.
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