Lawsuits claim hotel negligent
NZPA-Reuter San Juan, Puerto Rico The family of a man who died in the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire and an injured survivor filed lawsuits yesterday claiming SUSI 9 million ($3l million) in damages. Laboratory technicians are still examining forensic evidence to try to determine how arsonists started the fire, which killed 99 people and injured 120 on New Year’s Eve.
The widow and four children of Juan Rosario Torres, aged *3, a Dupont Plaza janitor, filed a SUS» million ($l7 million) suit in the United States District Court charging the hotel with gross negligence.
The suit claimed that hotel corridors on the ground-floor service area
were filled with flammable materials, and said the ballroom had inadequate fireproof curtains.
A second suit for SUSI* million ($lB.B million) was filed by Jose Aponte, aged 4*, a casino patron. Mr Aponte survived, but suffered leg injuries. A police spokesman, Jose Luis Lopez, said yesterday the police investigation could be concluded only when results of tests at a United States Government arson lab in Maryland were known. There has been speculation that the tense labour situation at the hotel, where members of a Teamsters branch had authorised a midnight strike, might have led to the fire.
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Press, 7 January 1987, Page 8
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206Lawsuits claim hotel negligent Press, 7 January 1987, Page 8
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