Landlord, Carpet Seller, and Installer Sued for Fire-Related Injuries

In seven related cases, tenants and families of firefighters sued landlord for negligence after firefighters were killed and tenants injured in a 1998 apartment fire. They claimed that the building's hallway sprinkler system and the self-closing hinges to the apartment door where the fire started didn't work properly. Landlord, in turn, sued Sears and a carpet installation company. Landlord claimed that the height of the carpet in tenant's apartment interfered with the operation of the self-closing mechanism on tenant's apartment door. This caused a buildup of heat and smoke, which killed the firefighters and injured tenants. Sears claimed that the carpet installer was responsible for protecting Sears from all claims in the case. The carpet installer denied this responsibility. The court ruled for the carpet installer. Sears appealed and won. Even if there were still questions about whether the carpet installation was the cause of anyone's injury, the company agreed in its contract with Sears to indemnify Sears against any claims.

Barnes v. NYCHA: NYLJ, 9/17/07, p. 35, col. 1 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; Spolzino, JP, Skelos, Dillon, McCarthy, JJ)