Family of woman killed in Las Vegas fire sues apartment owners
The family of a 34-year-old woman who died in an east Las Vegas fire has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owners of an apartment complex where she had lived.
A fire broke out in Nora Serna’s bedroom at Corona del Sol Apartments, 4640 E. Charleston Blvd., in October 2018. A smoke detector inside her apartment was not working at the time of the fire, according to the complaint filed by the Richard Harris Law Firm.
The suit filed Monday by Serna’s parents and husband, which also alleges negligence and product liability, names Westland Corona LLC and Las Vegas Residential Properties LLC as the licensed owners and operators of the apartment complex.
Crews from Las Vegas and Clark County fire departments arrived to the scene within minutes of receiving 911 calls from residents at the apartment complex and found “heavy flames” spilling out of the windows of a second-floor unit.
Firefighters found Serna on the floor of a bedroom. Investigators said at the time that they believed the fire started near a closet.
The lawsuit alleges that the property owners did not “properly maintain the premises, specifically Apartment 30, by inspecting, maintaining, securing, repairing and otherwise keeping safe said apartment and the smoke alarms and other electrical products” inside.
Owners of the property could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
A month after Serna died, the Las Vegas Review-Journal released the results of an investigation that found most deadly fires were clustered in areas with older homes and apartments, where safety measures like sprinklers and interconnected smoke alarms were not required.
Late last year, a fire at the Alpine Motel Apartments left six people dead and dozens without a place to live. Adolfo Orozco, the landlord of that building, along with a property manager, Malinda Mier, face charges of involuntary manslaughter.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.