Landlord: Fire started after tenant falling asleep while smoking

A Cook County landlord is suing over claims a fire was started on her property when a tenant fell asleep while smoking.

Rhonda Sanford filed suit July 25 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Henry King.

According to the complaint, Sanford leased her property on West 74th Street in Chicago to King on the condition that he procure insurance to cover the cost of rebuilding in the event of fire or other loss because her insurance policy would not cover the full costs following a previous fire.

Sanford claims King agreed, but on July 30, 2012, failed to properly extinguish smoking material that started a fire and destroyed the building. King is accused of negligence.

Sanford is seeking more than $50,000 in damages and is being represented in the case by attorney Jason Harris of Law Offices of Jason Harris in Lincolnwood.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L007833.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.