Wyoming Woman, With TBI After Carbon Monoxide Leak, Sues Landlord

A Wyoming woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the owner of an apartment complex, claiming she suffered traumatic brain injury following a carbon monoxide leak last year, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.

http://trib.com/news/local/casper/casper-woman-sues-apartment-owner-operator-for-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/article_1245d238-2834-5697-a8cb-a9801477ba6e.html

Amber Nicole Lompe alleges that she sustained permanent injuries from carbon monoxide poisoning in her apartment at Sunridge Apartments in Casper. She was living at that complex on Feb. 1, 2011, when carbon monoxide leaked into her room while she was sleeping. The lethal gas apparently came from a furnace and ventilation system, the Star-Tribune reported.

The lawsuit named the apartments’ operator, Apartment Management Consultants, and owner, Sunridge Partners Inc., as defendants, alleging that they were negligent.

The suit charges that Lompre’s apartment had carbon monoxide levels as high as 500 parts per million, and that she had an unsafe level in her blood, according to the Star-Tribune. The average level in a home is 5 parts per million.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants had been aware that the furnace needed to be  either repaired or replaced, since it was had leaked carbon monoxide before.

And in a case of closing the barn door after the cow is out, on Feb. 11, 2011 the defendants gave Lompre a working carbon monoxide detector. Anticipating that she would sue, the defendants also just happened to destroy the furnace, the Star-Tribune reported.