Widow sues over husband's death in cabin

The woman's husband, son and brother-in-law died on a fishing trip to Canada.
CANTON (AP) -- The widow of one of three American tourists who died in a remote Canadian fishing cabin attributes their deaths to carbon monoxide that leaked from a nearly 60-year-old propane-powered refrigerator, according to a lawsuit filed against the cabin operators.
Karen Common of Alliance said photos taken of her husband on a digital camera recovered from the cabin show Richard Common, 61, with red lips and red cheeks -- signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. Her son, James Common, 24, and brother-in-law, Michael Common, 66, also died.
"I think he thought he had the flu," Karen Common said of her husband. "That is my speculation. I know he didn't feel well from the way he looked."
A cabin operator discovered the bodies in September 2005 after the tourists failed to show up at a boat launch at the end of their fishing vacation, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Stark County Common Pleas Court.
Karen Common is seeking unspecified punitive damages from the Green Wilderness Lodge in Gogama, Ontario.
No electricity in cabin
The men had been to the lodge before, but this time they were told that their reservations had been lost or not recorded, the lawsuit said, and lodge owners Warren and Russell Thibodeau put the three Americans in a "newly acquired cabin" on Nursey Lake, about 40 miles from the main camp.
The cabin did not have electricity or running water, and the sole source of power came from propane generators that fueled lights and appliances, according to the lawsuit. The refrigerator -- the suspected source of carbon monoxide -- was made in 1947 by Servel Co.
There also was no phone or two-way radio, and Richard Common -- in a phone conversation with his wife before he left the main camp -- said his cell phone wouldn't work in the remote area, Karen Common said.
The cabin was accessible only by off-road vehicles and then by boat, the lawsuit said.
It's unclear when the men died.
Richard Common's body was so badly decomposed that it can't be used as evidence, Karen Common said.
Son's body used as evidence
"Most people don't know this, but my son's body was in cold storage in the funeral home until January," she said. "We couldn't cremate him until we had the toxicology and medical reports from the coroner in Canada. His body was the only evidence we had."
James Common was a graduate student at the Minnesota School of Theology, where he was studying to be an Anglican priest. He was in the middle of an internship as a youth minister at a Florida church at the time of his death.
A message seeking comment was left Thursday for the Thibodeaus at the lodge.
Also named in the lawsuit are three successors to Servel Co. -- Gould Electronics of Eastlake, Nikko Materials Use of Cleveland and Whirlpool Corp. of Cleveland.
The lawsuit also names Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro because of an Ohio law that limits a manufacturer's responsibility to 10 years after the product goes into use.