The Lynn Valley man who lost his wife and younger son in the June 2018 apartment fire at Mountain Village is suing the landlords, the architects who designed the building and the District of North Vancouver, alleging they are responsible for the deaths.
During the early morning of June 11, 2018, a fire broke out in the breezeway of Mountain Village Garden Apartment complex at 2556 Whitely Ct.
According to three notices of civil claim filed in Vancouver Supreme Court this week, Hossein Koshkoye-Delshad and his family were living in a second-floor apartment adjacent to the breezeway at the time, and the fire was blocking their only escape.
Koshkoye-Delshad tried to stop the fire from spreading into his own unit but failed, suffering burns in the process, the claims state. Koshkoye-Delshad woke his wife Narges Casnajad and their sons Sohail and Sepehr, and they retreated to a rear bedroom.
“Hossein and Sohail escaped the apartment by jumping from the balcony and the bedroom window of the apartment, respectively. Because there was no secondary exit or fire escape from the apartment, Narges and Sepehr were not able to escape from the apartment and were killed in the fire,” one of the claims states. “Narges’s and Sepehr’s deaths were avoidable and caused solely or materially by the negligence or breach of statutory duty of the defendants, or each of them.”
Koshkoye-Delshad suffered burns to his head and body, smoke inhalation and psychological injuries including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, the claims state, and he and Sohail continue to experience a loss of love, guidance and affection, according to the claims.
The lawsuit names the landlords, Mountain Village Management Ltd., as well as the architect L.O. Lund and Associates, and the District of North Vancouver.
The landlords failed to ensure the building had a secondary fire escape and failed to ensure that the premises were safe, the claim alleges. The landlords also did not warn the residents that the building “did not comply with the health, safety and housing standards required by law,” the claim states, and they failed to “correct the dangerous condition of the premises when they knew or ought to have known of a hazard.”
The architect was negligent by failing to ensure the building had a secondary exit or fire escape and failing to design the premises in compliance with the applicable building codes and bylaws, the claim asserts.
And the District of North Vancouver was negligent by approving and granting permits for a building with no fire escape, the claim continues, and by failing to perform inspections and enforce its own bylaws.
Koshkoye-Delshad is asking the courts to award him and his son general damages for pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and permanent physical disability, as well as special damages, compensation for past and future wage loss and costs for future care.
None of the defendants have yet been served with the civil claim.
A person who answered the phone at Mountain Village said the company wasn’t at fault.
“All I would say simply is that Mountain Village Management was found not responsible for this by the fire department and by the investigators, but that is just simple public knowledge,” he said.
The District of North Vancouver declined to comment.
L.O. Lund and Associates no longer exists as a company.
The suit also names Polygon Timber Court Ltd. and Polygon Juniper Homes Ltd. as agents of Mountain Village or as occupiers of the property; however, Polygon president Neil Chrystal said his company has no connection to Mountain Village.
“They’re a neighbouring property,” he said. “I don’t know why we would be included in that but I guess that is for our lawyers to figure out.”
