Woodstock Police determined last week that there was no criminal activity behind a deadly apartment fire in Woodstock in 2011, but the families of the two people killed in the fire say somebody should be held responsible, and have filed lawsuits seeking a combined $5.5 million.
Although the cause of the explosion remains under investigation, the lawsuits allege the explosion began in the building’s basement laundry room.
Listed as defendants in the lawsuit are the company that built a dryer for the laundry room, the company that installed it and an elderly couple that used it.
The lawsuit alleges that Alliance Laundry Holdings “knowingly sold dryers that were defective and unfit for their natural purpose” and that the couple “placed items containing and explosive fuel or substance inside the drum of the laundry dryer.”
In a statement of defence filed in court, WD Holdings – which, since 2011, has merged with the company that installed the dryer – says the dryers were “fit for their intended purpose and were of merchantable quality” and denies that the explosion was caused by their dryers.
The couple named in the lawsuit are currently out of town on vacation, while calls to the dryer manufacturer were not returned.
A lawyer representing the family behind one of the lawsuits says he has been instructed not to speak to the media.
The Centre of Forensic Science continues to test materials taken from the fire site.
