Home Economy Government Report: 3 survivors of Fall River assisted-living facility fire file negligence lawsuit

Report: 3 survivors of Fall River assisted-living facility fire file negligence lawsuit

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PBN Staff

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08/01/2025

Gabriel House fatal fire — THREE SURVIVORS from the fatal fire at the Gabriel House assisted-living center in Fall River in July are suing the owner and alarm company for negligence. / ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO/KIMBERLEE KRUESI

FALL RIVER – Three survivors from last month’s fatal fire at an assisted-living center are suing its owner and the alarm company for negligence, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Friday. In a lawsuit filed in Bristol County Superior Court, Patricia Martin, Terry Young and Donna Murphy claim that Gabriel House owner Dennis Etzkorn knew residents smoked

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FALL RIVER – Three survivors from last month’s fatal fire at an assisted-living center are suing its owner and the alarm company for negligence, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Friday. In a lawsuit filed in Bristol County Superior Court, Patricia Martin, Terry Young and Donna Murphy claim that Gabriel House owner Dennis Etzkorn knew residents smoked in their rooms despite the presence of medical oxygen and that the alarm company, Fire Systems Inc. of North Dartmouth, improperly installed and failed to maintain the facility’s fire panel, fire pump and sprinkler system. Investigators said on July 22 that the fire, which killed 10 residents, started unintentionally by either someone smoking or an electrical issue with an oxygen machine. The blaze left some residents of the three-story building hanging out of windows and screaming for help. Other allegations of negligence are outlined in the lawsuit, including the facility not enforcing any meaningful no-smoking policy, as well as code violations, broken equipment and a lack of staffing. The lawsuit alleges that the facility wasn’t safe for evacuation and lacked an Emergency Preparedness Plan, which is required by state law, according to the report. “Gabriel House turned into a death trap,” the residents’ attorneys, John Morgan and Luke Mitcheson of Morgan & Morgan, said in a statement to WPRI-TV. “Our lawsuit alleges the owner and the fire safety company he contracted with knew it, and yet they failed to act in time to save the facility’s vulnerable residents from death and permanent injuries.” The residents are seeking damages for “physical injuries, emotional and mental anguish and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, economic losses, medical expenses and property damage,” their attorneys told WPRI-TV. Another resident of Gabriel House, Steven Oldrid, filed a lawsuit on July 21 alleging the facility was not properly managed, staffed or maintained, that residency rules were not enforced and that “emergency response procedures were not put in place.” The Associated Press reported on July 29 that Gabriel House temporarily lost its certification nearly a decade ago due to resident mistreatment, according to state regulators. The documents obtained by The Associated Press show that the staff failed to treat residents with “consideration, respect, personal dignity and privacy." Other specific details of what prompted the monthlong suspension were redacted in documents that the R.I. Executive Office of Aging & Independence provided on July 29. The facility in Fall River was barred from accepting new residents until it took corrective action. The report adds to a list of issues raised with the Gabriel House facility over the years, including the son of one of the residents saying an elevator had been out for as long as nine months at one point. The state’s deadliest blaze in more than four decades has highlighted the lack of regulations governing assisted-living facilities that often care for low-income or disabled residents. Gov. Maura Healey declined last week to weigh in on the efficacy of state and local inspections. Instead, Healey has touted that a state commission is currently working on recommendations to improve assisted-living facilities. State records released on July 29 include about two dozen complaints about the facility during the last decade, including several related to “abuse, neglect or financial exploitation" but details are redacted. Other complaints involved a resident getting stuck for hours in an elevator that was then out of service for months, and staff members who threatened residents and withheld medication. There also were complaints about a nurse withholding medication, “environmental safety” and a cook: “The cook is obsessive, controlling and abusive.” The most detailed complaint is from 2015 and appears to have been written or dictated by a resident. It lists more than a dozen issues, including bed bugs, cockroaches, over-medicated residents and fist fights in common areas. “It is a place where you can’t feel safe due to other patients and corrupt staff,” the complaint states. “The staff treat the people there very cruel and show no respect for them or their needs.” Etzkorn has said he will not speak to journalists and is focused on helping families of the victims and cooperating with the investigation into the fire. Most recently, documents show that state officials were alarmed about the ongoing elevator issues as of spring 2025. A field supervisor with Massachusetts’s long-term care ombudsman made a plea in February to the state to investigate Gabriel House’s faulty elevator, saying that every time he made a call about the problem, he was met with “excuses.” “Please call this place and see if this is true … if so we need a remedy /plan asap,” an unnamed official wrote to the office’s assisted-living certification specialist. Etzkorn later wrote to the office detailing the timeline of the elevator problems that said work would begin in March after it was first alerted in September 2024. Before the July 13 fire, the most recent compliance review found numerous repeat violations, many related to record keeping. After the facility submitted a corrective plan, the state renewed its certification in December 2023. Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.