MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Attorneys representing the victims of the recent fire at an apartment building in Miami Gardens talked about a class action lawsuit on Wednesday that was filed in Miami-Dade County.
A fire on Jan. 28 at The New World Condo Apartments, at 395 NW 177 St., destroyed over 86 units. Shekita Whitfield, the lead plaintiff, said she was cooking breakfast when her daughter saw the fire from across the street.
Whitfield managed to escape but she lost it all. Firefighters declared the building unsafe after the fire that displaced more than 200 residents, some of whom live paycheck to paycheck, amid an ongoing affordable housing crisis.
“Someone has to be accountable for this,” Whitfield said during a news conference at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex, where the city set up a temporary shelter.
The lawsuit accuses the condominium association, its board of directors, and its management company of negligence and seeks about $8.6 million in damages.
Attorneys with the Strader Paschal and Lomaz Legal firms filed the lawsuit against Prestige Management Solutions, New World Condominium Apartments Condominium Association, and five people working for the association.
Karol Pollard, the president of the condominium association; Herbert Touzalin, the vice president; Betty Scott, the secretary; Emma Williams, the treasurer; and James Simpson, the director; are all subjects of the lawsuit.
The building’s residents were living in a structure with code enforcement violations that lacked insurance while property owners had to deal with a 40-year re-certification special assessment, according to the lawsuit.
Attorney Yolanda Strader said the parties mentioned also failed the residents by failing to address fire code violations, and by not maintaining a proper fire system.
“We want to make sure that their stories are not lost, that they’re not swept under the rug, similarly to how their whole sense of security was swept from underneath them,” Strader said during the news conference.
Rita Eizlendiz, one of the homeless victims, said she was still at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex and had nowhere to go on Wednesday night.
“We don’t have answers,” Eizlendiz said in Spanish. “We need help.”
Residents in neighboring apartments under the same property management reported issues with maintenance.
Read the lawsuit and view the evidence
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