A woman whose husband died while working at Los Angeles International Airport in 2022 wants a judge to order the city and Los Angeles World Airports to release records of what happened, including a search or production of the entire accident.
In court papers filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, an attorney for petitioner Tiffany Abraham alleges the city and airport are snubbing their requests and are in violation California Public Records Act as she tries to find out more about the death of her husband, 36-year-old Cristofer Abraham. The construction foreman was present when a fixed high pressure carbon dioxide fire suppression system released a deluge of carbon dioxide into a utility room in Terminal 8 of LAX on Oct. 31, 2022. He died Nov. 11.
Three other workers were injured and hundreds of passengers were evacuated, all of which disrupted air and operations, according to Abraham’s lawyer’s court papers.
In their previous court papers, attorneys for the city have maintained that many records requested by Abraham have already been turned over and that her petition contains many “legal conclusions and arguments.”
The suppression system did not comply with applicable safety standards and discharged the carbon dioxide gas without any warning, without the requisite pre-activation alarms and minus other mandated safety mechanisms, Abraham’s lawyer argues in his court papers
“Despite the known dangers, LAWA continues to operate similar systems in other passenger terminals at LAX,” Abraham’s lawyer states in his court papers.
Abraham, on behalf of herself and her two children, submitted requests for public records about what happened through the CPRA last November, her attorney states in his court papers.
“The public records sought by way of the CPRA Requests are important to Mrs. Abraham to help determine the root cause as to why and how her husband died while working at LAX,” Abraham’s lawyer states in his court papers. “These records are also critical to the public to expose and investigate how and why LAWA operates mechanical systems that are out of compliance with the regulatory standards and codes.”
But Abraham has been frustrated that the airport has “delayed, obstructed and frustrated” her efforts to access the public records” and instead responded with a list of exemptions to public records category request “without any real thought as to whether the exemption applies,” Abraham’s attorney states in his court papers.
As examples, the airport has failed to search or produce the entire surveillance video or documents related to the root causes of the accident, while also refusing to conduct agreed upon “key word” searches for email communications, Abraham’s lawyer further states in his court papers.
A hearing on Abraham’s motion is scheduled Dec. 19 before Judge Curtis A. Kin.