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Yesterday, the Post revealed that Mamadou Soumare had filed a notice of claim, giving him the right to file a lawsuit in the future, related to the Bronx fire that claimed the lives of his wife and four children. But now Somare tells the Daily News that he's not so sure about the lawsuit anymore.
The defendants in the notice of claim included various city agencies - FDNY, Department of Buildings - as well as Moussa Magassa, who owned the house; the notice of claim said that the various parties were liable for $100 million in Soumare's suffering, mental anguish, lost wages, etc. Now Soumare says, "This is not what I want, the city and firefighters were so good to us...The Magassas are my friends; they suffered too...I don't want to sue." Is it too much to suspect an opportunistic lawyer in the mix? We think a reader's suggestion of clamping down on ambulance chasers is great.
And Mayor Bloomberg gave his two cents about a possible lawsuit: "I don't think there's any basis for a suit and I don't know that there's going to be a suit. Papers were filed that gives them the right to sue. But keep in mind that people tragically, in the building where all the deaths occurred, didn't call the Fire Department for a while." The fire, which claimed ten lives, was caused by an overheated space heater's cord; the home did not have working smoke detectors.
Photograph of Soumare by Louis Lanzano/AP
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An "opportunistic lawyer in the mix?" Maybe, but the fact is that the requirement to file a notice of claim within 90 days of an occurrence, or lose your right to sue later, means that many such notices are filed but never end up in a suit. It just makes sense to reserve the right while thinking a traumatic situation through.
fdny to blame? how exactly?
The FDNY can only do so much, as they are often called when it is too late. In this case the response time was about 1:05 under the city wide average for the month. In this case, the delay in calling the FDNY helped make things worse. It isn't like firefighters are psychics and can sniff out a call.
Gothamist is also to blame. Why didn't you call the FDNY or climbed into the house to save them? Shame on you!