Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone

An insurer who paid a fire loss claim to a Utah homeowner for damage that occurred to personal property and real estate from a wildland fire last year, has filed suit against the local fire department, the city, the county and the state claiming their failure to control and extinguish a prescribed burn led to the damage.

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In this session of Fire Law Roundup, Brad and Curt discuss the lawsuits arising out of the Los Angeles County firehouse shooting incident on June 1, 2021, a second suit filed in the KCMO fatal apparatus accident lawsuit in December, ...

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Two lawsuits were filed last week over the shooting at a Los Angeles County fire station last year. Heidi Carlon, the widow of firefighter Tory Carlon, filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court naming the estate of the firefighter-shooter, Jonathan Patrick Tatone, and the county as defendants.

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A second wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against a firefighter and the city of Kansas City arising out of an apparatus-involved accident last month. The family of Tami Knight filed suit today in Jackson County Circuit Court.

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Mobile Fire-Rescue is investigating allegations by a female firefighter that a fire captain inappropriately touched her in the fire station while on duty. According to WKRG, the both the city and the US Department of Justice are investigating the allegations that reportedly occurred in December, 2021.

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A Missouri fire district has filed suit against a local municipality who it claims is obstructing its ability to construct and open a badly needed firehouse. The Monarch Fire Protection District filed suit against the City of Wildwood last week seeking injunctive relief.

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A firefighter with the Eastchester Fire District who retired last year, has filed suit against the district and Eastchester Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 916 claiming both are responsible for depriving him of a terminal leave benefit that would have given him two additional months of pay. Kevin Stewart filed suit in US District Court alleging a violation of the NLRA.

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In this edition of Fire Law VLOG, Brad and Curt discuss last week's headlines, including the LA County warehouse fire hazmat cleanup suit, a staffing decision out of New York state, an Oregon suit over a sexual assault, a wrongful termination suit out of Ohio, and a health care benefit case involving a disabled Florida firefighter.

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Los Angeles County and the State of California have filed suit against the owners of a warehouse that burned last year in a fire that created an environmental disaster. The suit filed last week seeks to recover millions that were expended in fighting the fire and cleaning up the hazardous materials.

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The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court has ruled that minimum staffing is a bargainable subject that relates to the safety of firefighting personnel, not an illegal job-security clause. The case involves an effort by the City of Ogdensburg to block the grievance arbitration of the city’s unilateral reduction in shift staffing for the Ogdensburg FD.

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A former business manager for an Ohio fire department, has filed suit claiming she was terminated on account of her gender and retaliated against for consulting an attorney. Deborah Roche filed suit today against the Munson Fire Department, Inc. in US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

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A lawsuit filed by a disabled Florida firefighter challenging a limitation on her eligibility for a city-paid health plan in retirement has been dismissed. Karyn D. Stanley claimed that the City of Sanford violated a state law and the Equal Protection clause by discontinuing the payment of health care premiums for disabled firefighters twenty-four months after their date of retirement.

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An Oregon firefighter who is already facing state and federal charges for stealing drugs and using them to sexually assault unsuspecting women, has been sued by one of his victims. Eugene-Springfield firefighter Edward Augustus Blake, 44, is facing charges of rape, sodomy, and strangulation in addition to drug related offenses.

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In this week’s edition of Fire Law Roundup, Curt and Brad discuss some of the headline cases from last week, including two fatal apparatus accident cases, one a civil suit for wrongful death and one a criminal case where the ...

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