By Debra Friedman
Connecticut Post Online
GREENWICH, Conn. — Days before presenting evidence to a jury, the town has agreed to pay nearly $1.4 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of a Greenwich man who died in a 2000 apartment fire.
The settlement puts to rest a case that’s been pending for more than six years.
William DeWitt Romig was 22 when he was found dead in the bathroom of his first-floor Prospect Street apartment Dec. 9, 2000, after his mentally ill neighbor intentionally started a fire. Romig was found dead several hours after the fire was extinguished, sitting against the inside of the bathroom door. He died from smoke inhalation.
Romig’s parents filed a wrongful death suit against the town in 2003 alleging that firefighters were negligent by failing to break down Romig’s bathroom door to ensure no one was stuck inside.
David Golub said Wednesday he is glad his clients, Romig’s parents Edward Romig and Mary Stacy, can finally have some closure.
“This has been a very long process for them and they are very pleased that the town has finally acknowledged its responsibility in this matter by making this substantial payment,” Golub said. “This case has always been about accepting responsibility.”
The settlement comes two weeks after Town Attorney John Wayne Fox said the town was prepared to fight the wrongful death suit. On May 5, Fox said firefighters “acted appropriately” and that there was “no liability that ought to be imposed on the fire department or the community.”
Golub, however, said he was prepared to call former Fire Chief Daniel Warzoha to the stand, claiming that Warzoha admitted in a deposition that the firefighter in question was at fault by not breaking down the bathroom door.
Fox said the decision to settle came at the insistence of the town’s insurance company, which is responsible for paying the bulk of any settlement. The town will have to pay a $500,000 deductible, according to Fox.
While Fox felt the case was defensible in court, he said the town was saddened by the loss of life in this case. Fox also said that the fire department was heroic in putting out the fire.
“It was a raging fire that they brought under control at a danger to themselves,” he said.
The settlement is the final claim in the wrongful death suit, as three other parties named in the lawsuit have settled in recent years, including James Sutton, the owner of the property at 37 Prospect St., where the fire occurred; Joseph Benton, the mentally ill man who set the fire; and the Association of Retarded Citizens of Greenwich, which was caring for Benton at the time.
Sutton accepted an offer of judgment in 2004, paying $1.25 million and accepting liability for Romig’s death. The Association of Retarded Citizens of Greenwich paid $325,000. Benton settled for $298,447, according to court records.
Benton, who lived in the apartment above Romig, was found not guilty of arson-murder in December 2003 by reason of mental disease or defect. He was ordered confined to a mental health facility for life.
Golub said he expects the Greenwich Probate Court to make the settlement with the town official when the parties meet June 9 at Town Hall.
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