Five more lawsuits claim negligence in Clearwater condo fire

CLEARWATER -- Five people who owned or occupied units at Dolphin Cove condominiums on Island Estates have filed a negligence suit against their homeowners association and building manager over a deadly fire last June.

They say in five separate Pinellas-Pasco lawsuits filed last week that the association and manager failed to properly maintain its fire extinguishing system. That led to a shortage of water to fight the June 28 fire, the suit said.

A crucial valve that closed off the water supply had been closed, the suit said, which worsened a fire that killed two residents and sent five firefighters to the hospital, including three with severe burns.

"As a result, the city of Clearwater's emergency personnel and firefighting personnel had no immediate water with which to attack the fire, thereby losing crucial time . . . to control the blaze," the suits said.

The suits say several automatic door closers had also been removed, which endangered residents.

The five separate suits add to a growing wave of litigation over a blaze that called into question the tactics of firefighters and problems in the building. So far, seven lawsuits have been filed.

The suits seek damages to speed up repairs and allow displaced residents back into Dolphin Cove. Work is expected to begin next soon.

Association president Frank Pound said last week that the lawsuits were without merit. And he blamed Clearwater building inspectors for delays in beginning renovation work.

"That's just accusations. None of it is true," Pound said. "You can sue anybody. We've got the records to prove it's not true. The only thing not working was a valve that was shut off. We don't know who shut off the valve."

Representatives of the building manager, Greenacre Properties Inc., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Four condo owners who are suing are John Aggeletos, George Tomaras, Paul McCoy and John Sokolich. A fifth person who filed suit, Anne Yaro, was a tenant who was renting a unit.

Tomaras, who lives in Chicago and used his condo as a vacation home, said last week that he was impatient to get back to his home. He estimates he and his wife, Christine, lost at least $50,000 in belongings.

"I don't know how this happened," said Tomaras, who was at the condo when the blaze broke out on the fifth floor. "It's terrible. We just want to go back. I don't understand why it's taking so long."

Maxwell Battle, an attorney representing Tomaras and the others, said his clients had reserved the right to later file suit against Clearwater.

The fire started in the kitchen of a unit on the fifth floor of Dolphin Cove, then smoldered and grew for 28 minutes before firefighters were able to hit it with water.

Fire officials said the building suffered a "flashover,"' a rare kind of explosion in a confined space that causes the air to catch fire amid extraordinary temperatures.

The fire killed Robert Kelly, 75, and Jean Zetterberg, 81. Fire investigators blamed the blaze on the electric range in the kitchen of Zetterberg's son, Charles Zetterberg, who has previously filed suit against the association and Greenacre.

His attorneys, who dispute that the stove was the source of the fire, have questioned firefighters' tactics in battling the blaze and said the city would be named as a party to the suit.

A city firefighter burned in the blaze has also filed suit against Dolphin Cove.

The suits seek damages in excess of $15,000.

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