A Connecticut woman who lost three daughters and her parents in a Christmas Day blaze is dropping a lawsuit against the city of Stamford, saying officials had followed through on amending local fire laws.
The New York Times writes that documents obtained from a federal court in nearby Bridgeport records the settlement with advertising executive Madonna Badger. A copy of the agreement, obtained by the Associated Pres, purportedly records a $150,000 payout to Badger’s legal team.
The fatal fire broke out Christmas morning in 2011, while Badger and her boyfriend, Michael Borcina, were wrapping presents. In the ensuing inferno, 7-year old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year old Lily Badger, and their maternal grandparents, Lomar and Pauline Johnson, were all killed.
While Badger and Borcina managed to escape the house, Borcina died last October from cancer.
Authorities initially claimed that a bag of ashes left in the fireplace had started the fire, while Borcina alternatively said that either he or Badger had actually left the sack in a “mudroom.” Badger’s suit said that city officials were responsible due to negligence, having failed to properly supervise renovations being done to the house – including the installation of a new fire alarm and smoke detection system.
Moreover, Badger alleged that city officials tried to cover up evidence of their supposed negligence, ordering the house demolished just a day after the fire – evidence that could have shown that Stamford didn’t oversee the installation of a smoke detection system that didn’t work when it was needed most.
The city, on the other hand, challenged Borcina – who, wrote the Hartford Courant, owned the contracting company which turned the Badger home into a practical “firetrap.”
Nevertheless, Stamford denied wrongdoing through the suit, but did agree to change its ordinances. The settlement, recounted by the Times, demanded that the ‘city change its ordinances to require the state fire marshal be notified of any fatal fires in the city and require officials to notify the state fire marshal and property owner before homes are demolished after fatal fires.’
City fire marshals had acknowledged before the settlement that the property’s speedy destruction made it impossible for private insurance investigators and law enforcement personnel to conduct a proper and thorough investigation.
The city’s Board of Representatives approved the changes to local law in September.
Badger’s attorney, Frank Corso, kept his comments curt.
“The case was settled on terms that will advance the public good,” is all the lawyer offered.
The Times reports that the settlement wasn’t the first related to the fire. Stamford had previously paid out an estimated $6.65 million to the father of the three girls, Matthew Badger. The suit was filed on their behalf. However, Badger died in February 2017, shortly before the settlement was reached.
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