The owner of a building on the city's South Side is being sued by a woman who alleges she had to jump out of a window to escape a fire.
Charlene Hawkins filed a lawsuit Jan 7 in Cook County Circuit Court against Mykhaylo Olinyk, the building owner, citing negligence.
According to the complaint, Hawkins was visiting her boyfriend’s apartment on the third floor of Olinyk's building in the 5900 Block of South Peoria Avenue on Feb. 19, 2013, when a fire swept through the building, trapping Hawkins.
Hawkins claims sustained injuries after she jumped from a third floor window to save herself from the fire because there were no other options to get to safety.
She accuses Olinyk of failing to test and maintain smoke detectors, or provide smoke detectors in violations of Chicago municipal codes. The defendant also failed to install sprinklers, inspect electrical systems and allowed combustible materials on the property, the suit alleges.
Hawkins seeks damages in excess of $50,000 and is represented by attorneys Jeffrey Deutschman and Bradley Skafish of Deutschman & Associates in Chicago.
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 represents only one side of the story.
Suit: Lack of smoke detectors, sprinklers forced woman to jump out of window during fire
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