Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington

Apartment fire....is tenant liable?

We had a barbeque in the apartment deck on Sunday. Two hours later after BBQ, I shut the grill with the lid to kill the fire and heat. Two days later, I cleaned the grill and removed the ashes and dumped it in a plastic bag and left it on the deck. Next early morning around 3AM the fire alarm in front of bedroom went off waking us. There was a huge fire in the deck. Our apartment is 4 floors up. I contained the fire to the deck area before it reached the living room using a extinguisher. We called 911 and they put out the fire. There was heavy damage to the deck and deck access sliding door. We transfered to a different apartment. The landlord wants me to pay the insurance decuctible max $5000 or whatever the damage repair costs. As he claims it was total negligence. I disagree that it was negligence, it was accidental. Two days later I cleaned the ashes and did not find it hot or having and heat in it. There was also construction going on the building. Am I fully liable to pay the damages for the accident? I dont have renters insurance.


Asked on 8/03/07, 6:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elizabeth Powell ELizabeth Powell PS Inc

Re: Apartment fire....is tenant liable?

Negligence is having a duty, breaching that duty, having proximately caused damages to something, and having damages result.

I can't tell whether or not your barbeque somehow sparked a fire two days later - seems a long time for charcoal to smolder without anybody noticing a problem.

Has anybody definitively stated what the official cause of the fire is? You would want to go see the fire report. The fire department will have it.

Your landlord carries premises insurance. You can ask to review the entire policy. You will want to have an attorney help you review the policy to determine whether the landlord has coverage BEFORE you agree to pay his alleged deductible.

Your landlord is not the judge, and chances are he isn't a lawyer, even though he's giving you legal advice. My first rule is don't take legal advice from non-lawyers, and don't take legal advice from adversarial parties.

You are not necessarily liable at this point for anything, but spending some time and money doing a consult NOW may save you a lot of aggravation in the long run.

Also, just so you know, damages resulting from negligence are always dischargeable in bankruptcy. They can't take away your birthday.

But the "causal nexus" is really a stretch, based on what you are saying.

You should call James Cushing in Tacoma and request a consult. You can find any attorney in the state at wsba.org . Hope this helps.

Elizabeth Powell

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Answered on 8/03/07, 9:09 pm


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