Florida family files lawsuit after mother of 3 killed in apartment explosion: court docs
ORLANDO, Fla. - An Orlando family is suing the owners of an apartment complex after a wife and mother of three was killed after being severely burned in an apartment explosion, according to court documents filed last week.
According to the lawsuit, Mikeanesha Moore, her husband Raven Fondia, and their three young children are suing SPT Wah Woodhill LLC, owners of Woodhill Apartments in Orlando, for neglecting safety inspections and ignoring tenant complaints about gas smells and leaks over months and years.
On the morning of March 1, Moore entered the apartment and was "catastrophically burned" by a gas fire explosion that started in the apartment's laundry room. As a result, Moore reportedly suffered third and fourth-degree burns on over 40% of her body. She was placed in critical care at a hospital, was immobilized, and unable to speak. During an investigation, fire officials discovered that the explosion resulted from gas leaking from an unplugged and uncapped gas line.
An Orlando family is suing the owners of an apartment complex after a wife and mother of three were severely burned in an apartment explosion, according to court documents filed last week. (Photo via Orange County Fire Rescue)
Fondia was told his wife Mikeanesha would spend the next six months in the hospital to recover from her severe burns following the possible gas explosion, but things took a turn for the worse this past weekend, and she died early Sunday morning.
She left behind her husband and their three young boys, ages 4, 9, and 13. The two had been together since she was in the eighth grade.
"I'm still in shock. I just can't believe we came this far — me and her, you know? For it to be broken this way," said Fondia. "It’s heavy on my heart."
Investigators have not confirmed that a gas leak is to blame for the explosion at the Woodhill Apartments. Still, the lawsuit claims the previous tenants removed the washer and dryer themselves. It alleges that a gas cap was not put over the gas line. The apartment itself wasn't inspected properly before they moved in.
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"Everybody that has gas appliances should immediately, upon hearing the story, look and see if they're if there's an uncapped gas line if someone removed an appliance and didn't put a cap on there," said the family's attorney Richard Troutman of the Troutman Law Firm in Winter Park. "We feel that they violated every duty they had to these tenants to give them a safe property.:
Fondia would like to see someone held responsible.
"What are we going to do? Put new carpet in there and move the next people in? Is that going to happen? Or are the authorities going to step in and really help hold someone accountable? That's the right thing to happen. Somebody should be held accountable."FOX 35 Orlando reached out to Woodhill Apartments on Monday, but they declined to comment.
The lawsuit states the family is seeking $75,000 in damages and is requesting a jury trial. A GoFundMe has been set up to help with food, clothing, shelter, gas, and the family's other living expenses.