BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
A Gambian woman who
survived last Sunday’s Fordham
Heights apartment
building fi re that claimed
the lives of 17 people is suing
building owners for $500 million,
alleging that property
owners allowed people to live
in the complex despite unsafe
conditions, according to a
lawsuit fi led Wednesday.
According to a lengthy
96-page complaint, the Gambian
born claimant Hullamatou
Ceesay alleges that the
building owners — Bronx
Park Phase III Preservation
LLC, which is a development
consortium of The Camber
Property Group, Belveron
Partners and the LIHC Group
— failed to fi reproof the premises
of the Twins Parks North
West and also denied requests
from residents to fi reproof
their individual apartment
complexes. Ceesay did suffer
injuries from the fi re, the
extent to which, was not detailed
in the docket.
Ceesay’s lawsuit, which
was fi led in Bronx Supreme
Court, is the second separate
lawsuit fi led against property
owners this week. The
fi rst lawsuit, which was fi led
on Tuesday by two other tenants,
alleges the owners did
not address “actual notice of
defective conditions” in the
high-rise building, and that
resulted in a malfunctioning
self-closing door that fi re offi
cials say exacerbated the
spread of the fi re.
The lead plaintiffs in that
case, husband and wife Rosa
Reyes and Felix Martinez,
are seeking $1 billion and
compensatory damages for
alleged negligence and another
$2 billion in punitive
damages on behalf of themselves
and others affected by
the fi re.
Throughout its 123 building
portfolio, Bronx Park
Phase III Preservation LLC
has a total of 11,801 residential
units, but within just the
last three years had received
2,468 heat and hot water complaints
submitted to the city’s
311 service, according to
NYC-based tenant-organizing
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service JustFix NYC. Before
the Jan. 9 fi re, there were
18 open violations against
the property, with 174 total
violations levied since new
ownership took over in 2020,
records fi led with the city Department
of Housing Preservation
and Development
show.
While some tenants are
taking legal recourse against
building owners, for other
tenants it was time for somber
goodbyes.
On Wednesday, the fi rst of
many planned communal funerals
commemorating the
17 lives that perished in the
fi re, was held at the Islamic
Cultural Center. The fi rst funeral
honored young victims,
Seydou Torre, 12, and Haouwa
Mahamadou, 5.
Toure was an eighth-grade
student at the Angelo Patri
Middle School, which was
next door to the Twin Parks
building, and Mahamadou
was one of at least four siblings
caught in the blaze, according
to an online fundraising
page set up by her aunt,
Family, friends and community members gather at a candlelight vigil
held on Jan. 11 to remember the 17 victims who perished in the Fordham
Heights fi re. Photo | Adrian Childress
Khadidja Timbaye.
Two other Mahamadou
children were treated in critical
condition, Timbaye wrote.
According to the medical
examiner, all 17 victims died
of smoke inhalation. Fire offi
cials say a malfunctioning
space heater that had been left
on for days sparked the fi re.
The remaining 15 victims
— all with connections to
The Gambia — are expected
to have funerals held in the
coming days, community
leaders told the Bronx Times
on Friday. Islamic tradition
includes the cleansing and
wrapping of the deceased, a
process that began on Thursday
when bodies were sent to
a Queens funeral home. This
proceess consists of ghusl, a
ritual washing of dead bodies,
kafan, or shrouding the
body with pieces of cloth, and
fi nally salat al-janazah, a funeral
prayer.
Second suit seeks $500M from
Fordham Heights landlords
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