Feds nix fire suit against Pa. housing authority
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ERIE (AP) – The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says a local northwestern Pennsylvania housing authority can’t be sued for a fire that killed two women in a low-income apartment in July 2010.
The Erie Times-News reports Thursday’s decision agreed with attorneys from the Erie Housing Authority, who argued the agency shouldn’t be held liable for not forcing a Section 8 landlord to meet fire-safety requirements.
Thirty-one-year-old Tyreesha Richardson, and 44-year-old Gwyneth Henry, died in the fire in their upstairs apartment in a home. Nobody has been charged with setting the fire, which was caused when someone lit gasoline on a stairwell leading to their apartment.
The plaintiffs claim a city inspector approved the apartment for the low-income program in 2006 even though it didn’t meet safety standards then or thereafter.