Wrongful death lawsuit filed after east Indianapolis fire

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INDIANAPOLIS — A woman from Indianapolis is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against an east side apartment complex following a fire that killed a man and her two young children in January.

A plaintiff on behalf of Jaiwana Rembert has filed a complaint against Briergate Apartments, Fonseca Properties, Briergate Partners, Beztak Properties Co. Inc., Beztak Management Company and Tim J. Essex, who is the service manager responsible for providing maintenance for Briergate Apartments.

On Jan. 9, 2023, firefighters were called to the fire just before 10:30 p.m. at 2847 Elwin Drive, which is an address at Briergate Apartments near 30th Street and North Post Road.

When firefighters arrived, there was no fire showing from the apartment, but there was a light amount of smoke in the hallway. The fire, which investigators believe started on the couch, was smoldering and had nearly burned itself out.

"Depending on what the couch was made of, (it) can give off some deadly toxins into the air, and that may have rendered them unconscious," Indianapolis Fire Department Battalion Chief Rita Reith said.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the remaining fire within a minute of entering the apartment.

Inside the apartment, firefighters found 31-year-old Raymond Diggs and 15-month-old Leilani Rembert near the couch. They found the man's 3-year-old daughter, Reina Rembert, as well as a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy, in a back bedroom. All were unconscious and in cardiac arrest.

According to Reith, the fire was determined to be accidental.

Jaiwana, who is mother of all four children, wasn't home when the fire started but met investigators at the hospital, IFD said.

Diggs and the 14-year-old were initially taken to Eskenazi Hospital in critical condition. The 13-year-old, 3-year-old and the 1-year-old were initially taken to Riley Hospital for Children in critical condition.

Diggs, the 3-year-old and 1-year-old died from their injuries. The 13-year-old and 14-year-old were released from the hospital. However, the lawsuit claims the two children who survived "suffered severe, painful bodily and emotional injuries, from which they will never fully recover."

“It’s very hurtful and everything," neighbor Brandi Towns said. "I miss her a lot. My son used to play with her kids.”

Investigators said no smoke alarm was activated in the apartment when the fire started, but firefighters did hear an activated smoke alarm in the apartment building's hallway.

According to the lawsuit, two smoke detectors — adjacent from each other in the apartment's hallway — were in violation of a Marion County ordinance that "requires residential smoke detectors that are solely powered by batteries to have non-removable, non-replaceable batteries."

The lawsuit claims all smoke detectors at Briergate Apartments violate the provisions.

The defendants are also accused of wrongly placing the ionization smoke detectors in the hallway, which "caused regular, persistent, false nuisance alerts."

RELATED: IFD: 3-year-old girl dies more than 2 weeks after east side apartment fire

Multiple agencies cited the apartments' negligence in having only ionization smoke detectors instead of both ionization and photoelectric detectors, or even photoelectric detectors as standalone.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff said, "Ionization detectors are better at detecting flaming fires, but are horrible at detecting smoldering smoky fires, such as the fire that occurred in the Diggs’ apartment. Ionization detectors are dangerous standing alone because they are very slow to alert to smoldering smoke and they may not alert at all."

The lawsuit also alleges the smoke detectors on the hallway walls were installed 2 feet below the living room ceiling, which is the highest ceiling in the unit.

"Placement of the smoke detectors approximately 24 inches below the apartment's highest ceiling created a circumstance where the smoke detector's response time would likely be compromised and delayed," the lawsuit reads.

“You have to have the right smoke detectors and fire detectors on your premises and unfortunately they did not,” attorney Don Chamberlain said. “You cannot rent out an apartment or give someone a house or build a house with inadequate security system, which include smokes detectors.”

Aside from the smoke detectors, the lawsuit also alleges several other problems within the apartment that could've contributed to the victims' deaths:

RELATED: 6 people killed in fires in 1 month in Indianapolis

The lawsuit is seeking compensation for personal injuries, emotional distress, punitive damages and other compensation. It is also seeking a jury trial.

13News reached out to Fonseca Properties, Briergate Partners and Beztak Properties Co. Inc. and is awaiting their responses.