By Glenn Smith
The Post and Courier
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A new ruling by the state Court of Appeals keeps alive the prospect of adding the city of Charleston as a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed by the families of firefighters who died in the 2007 Sofa Super Store fire.
The court on Friday refused to dismiss an appeal of Circuit Judge Markley Dennis’ August ruling barring the city from being added to the case.
Defendants, including the Sofa Super Store, are seeking to bring the city on board, arguing that it bears great responsibility for the deaths of nine firefighters on June 18, 2007. The appeals court ordered them to submit written arguments in support of their case within 30 days.
The city is immune from paying damages in such a case, but adding the city as a defendant and allowing a jury to potentially assign the city blame for the deaths could reduce any award the remaining defendants might have to pay.
Families of the firefighters opposed adding the city to the case for that reason.
Richard Rosen, attorney for the Sofa Super Store, said the city’s “negligence and incompetence” directly contributed to the deaths of the nine men, and it’s only fair that a jury be allowed to consider that evidence.
“There is always a reason why a fire started, but it’s the response to that fire that determines the safety of the firemen, and the city was in charge of that,” he said.
Motley Rice attorney Kevin Dean, who represents some of the eight families who sued, said the appeal only seeks to muddy the waters and further delay the case at the expense of families who have suffered enough.
The city already has paid full benefits to the fallen firefighters’ families under workers’ compensation laws, so including the city serves as nothing but a distraction, he said.
“They are simply trying to take the focus of blame away from themselves so that they can point the finger at some third party,” he said.
Lawyer Sandra Senn, who represents the city, said Charleston officials also believe that Dennis’ original ruling was correct.
More than 20 companies, including several furniture makers, already have reached settlements in the case, agreeing to pay about $8.4 million to the families that filed lawsuits.
Only the Sofa Super Store; its operators, the Goldstein Family Limited Partnership; and a few contractors remain in the case.
Four former firefighters have filed nearly identical lawsuits against the store, furniture makers and others, alleging that they suffered physical and emotional injuries as a result of the 2007 blaze.
Having the city as a potential co-defendant in those cases could affect their eventual awards, as well.
The store and co-defendants appealed Dennis’ ruling in November after he twice denied motions to reconsider his decision. The families’ attorneys sought a dismissal of the defendants’ appeal, arguing that they had exceeded the filing deadline and that the appeal was premature at this stage in the case.
The appeals court decided to seek a more in-depth airing of the issues.
The legal issues surrounding adding the city as a defendant include the intent of current tort reform law, competing interpretations of case law and a disagreement about whether the statute of limitations already had passed.
Rosen said he thinks the court wants a thorough examination of the issues to resolve ambiguities in the tort reform law. “This will affect a lot of cases throughout the state,” he said.
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