Oakland, California, will pay $32.7 million to settle lawsuits over a deadly 2016 fire at an illegally converted warehouse known as the Ghost Ship.
FILE - This Dec. 3, 2016, file image taken from video provided by KGO-TV shows the Ghost Ship Warehouse after a fire swept through the building in Oakland, Calif. Oakland will pay $32.7 million to settle lawsuits filed over a 2016 fire at an illegally converted warehouse dubbed the Ghost Ship that killed 36 people. The City Council authorized the settlements Thursday, July 16, 2020.
The City Council authorized settlements of lawsuits filed by the families of 32 victims. The amount also includes more than $9 million for Sam Maxwell, who survived the blaze but “will live with severe, lifelong injuries and major medical expenses,” a city statement said. “These people are like wildfire victims, they had to run for their lives through smoke and flames and lost their homes, many of them displaced for a long time,” Alexander said.
Prosecutors contend that Derick Almena, the master tenant on the warehouse lease, was criminally negligent when he converted and sublet the space. They charged him with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter but a judge declared a mistrial last fall. His retrial is scheduled for October.
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