Apt. Where Marine Died Was Warned Of Carbon Monoxide Leaks

In 2012, an 18-year-old Marine died of carbon monoxide poisoning in an apartment in Idaho. There  is a lawsuit pending over the death of McQuen Forbush. And information reported last week by the Idaho Statesman may help the plaintiffs in that case.

The newspaper got a-hold of internal documents from the former property management company for the Sagecrest Apartments, the garden apartment complex in Meridian where Forbush died. And that report said that there had been prior problems with carbon monoxide leaks at Sagecrest, which apparently didn’t adequately address the issue.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/05/31/2597508/property-warned-about-deadly-gas.html

Forbush died Nov. 10, while his girlfriend Breanna Halowell was hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning and survived.

But about a year and a half before that, on July 28, 2011, First Rate Property Management warned Sagecrest that two dozen water heaters were creating high carbon monoxide levels, according to the Idaho Statesman. An attached plumber’s report said the problem needed to be addressed, otherwise tenants could “suffer health problems or death.”

The property maintenance supervisor actually distributed carbon monoxide detectors and warning letters to the apartments that had the high CO levels, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Nobody seems to know, however, if the water heaters in the apartment where Forbush and his girlfriend had been staying among those cited in 2011.

Most of the apartment units had washer and dryer units in a closet with a water heaters, a dangerous situation since lint from the dryer can clog the filter on the water heaters, preventing venting, the Idaho Statesman reported.

The wrongful death suit filed by Forbush’s fanily named the apartment owner, the property owners’ association, the property manager and the water heater designer and maker.

In an interesting note, the contractor on the apartment complex in May filed a tort claim against Meridian, charging that the city had approved plans for the property and inspected it, the Idaho Statesman reported. That review and the inspection was “grossly negligent,” the claim alleges.