A woman is suing over claims she was injured and her children died in a fire earlier this month in their apartment on the city's South Side.
Shamaya Coleman, individually and as special administrator of the Estate of Eriana Smith, filed a lawsuit Sept. 16 in Cook County Circuit Court against Tahir M. Sheikh and J&J Real Estate Management and Construction Inc., alleging premises liability.
The suit names the City of Chicago as a respondent in discovery.
According to the complaint, a fire started in a vacant apartment in the defendants' building on South Vernon Avenue on Sept. 8, and then spread to the third-floor apartment Coleman lived in with her four children.
Coleman says she sustained injuries and Smith died, along with her three other children: Carliysia Clark, Karlvon Clark and Shamarion Clark.
She accuses the defendants of being negligent in failing to equip the building with smoke detectors, sprinkler systems or a safe means of egress in violation of health codes.
Coleman is seeking more than $50,000 in damages and is represented by attorney Ronald Kalish of Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number: 2014L009644.
This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in 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.
Mother sues apartment owner, management company over fire her kids died in
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