A Pasadena architectural firm is among the companies being sued by relatives of 13 children and one teacher among 19 who died in a 2012 shopping mall nursery fire in Qatar.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court against F+A Architects as well as two Qatar-based companies associated with the management, design or development of the Villaggio Mall in Doha.
The suit alleges wrongful death, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages as well as compensation for funeral and burial expenses.
Joanna Brody, a public relations spokeswoman for F+A Architects, said she may have a comment on behalf of the company later Friday.
The victims were killed when a fire broke out about 11 a.m. May 28, 2012, in the second floor nursery, called the Gympanzee, after a flourescent tube light exploded in a storage area of a sporting goods store near where the victims were, the suit states. Smoke spread through the mall’s vents and along the ceiling, growing thicker and more toxic as it came into contact with flammable paint and other materials in the shopping center’s interior, the suit states.
A 2-year-old from Georgia was the only American who died. A 29-year- old teacher from South Africa, Shameega Charles, perished as she tried to hide the two youngest children who died under her shirt in a vain attempt to help them survive the toxic smoke, according to the lawsuit.
A New Zealand family lost their 2-year-old triplets, the suit states.
According to the complaint, F+A Architects designed fire supression systems that failed to put out the flames after they started, allowing the inferno to rapidly spread.
“Fire quickly reached the highly flammable polyesterene materials used in the internal decorations of Villaggio,” the suit staes.
The materials, “selected and/or approved” by F+A or its agents, melt during a fire and are hard to put out, the suit states.
“Indeed, this is precisely what happened on the day of the fire,” according to the complaint.
F+A Architects also failed to ensure that proper smoke control systems existed in the mall, the suit states.
“Further, certain of the ventilation and/or exhaust fans intended to draw smoke from the interior of the structure were installed backwards and actually operated to force smoke back into the building,” the suit alleges.
The fire suppression system F+A designed or approved included hoses that were too short to be extended far enough to reach the nursery, the suit states.
“As a result of these and other failures, 19 people, including 13 children, needlessly died,” the suit states.
A criminal prosecution of seven people, including the nursery owners, resulted in the June 2013 conviction of five of the defendants, all of whom were given jail sentences of five or six years, the suit states.
—City News Service