WARREN Wrongful-death suit filed against landlord

The lawsuit also states the heating contractor failed to detect warning signs of carbon monoxide.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The administrator of an estate of a 56-year-old woman has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the woman's landlord and a heating contractor.
R. Allen Sinclair, administrator for the estate of Juanita S. DeDee, filed the lawsuit Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
According to the suit, DeDee died on March 5, 2000, as a result of carbon monoxide gas which was released from the heating system at the home she lived in at 2740 Orchard Avenue S.E., Howland Township, because "the heating system exhaust duct was blocked with masonry debris, mortar and soot."
DeDee rented the home from Joseph Sergi, the landlord and a defendant in the lawsuit.
Shanda Gates, doing business as Comfort Systems, state Route 305, Southington, is also a defendant in the suit. Comfort Systems is a heating contractor.
Sergi has an unpublished telephone number and could not be reached to comment. Officials at Comfort Systems also could not be reached to comment.
The details: The suit states that Sergi was negligent because he failed to inspect the heating-system exhaust duct and the chimney, and to install a chimney flue liner or a carbon monoxide detector, the suit alleges.
The suit further states that Comfort Systems, at the request of Sergi, performed a service call at the home on Nov. 15, 1999. The suit states that Comfort Systems "breached its duty of care by failing to detect carbon monoxide warning signs and significant flaws in the heating system."
The suit further alleges that Comfort Systems failed "to notice that the exhaust duct was over 90 percent obstructed with masonry debris, mortar and soot."
Paul C. Simmons Jr., 54, who also lived at the Orchard Street S.E. home, also was found dead there. The two were found by police March 8, 2000. Police were called to the house after a neighbor reported that the two had not been seen for a few days.
An attorney representing Simmons' estate filed a similar lawsuit last month. That case is still pending.