Owners of burned Castle West apartments face lawsuit

Former Castle West Apartments residents have filed a lawsuit against the owners and managers of the complex, which was burned in a 2007 arson that killed two men and left hundreds homeless.

The lawsuit, filed last month, claims owners Howard Parnes and Ted Sannella of Coolidge-Castle West Equities and Urban Property Management Inc. were negligent for not maintaining locking security doors that would have kept the suspected arsonist out. They also ignored the hundreds of calls from residents to police complaining of criminal activity around the complex, according to the lawsuit.

The fire started early Jan. 16, 2007, at the 135-unit complex near Academy Boulevard and Uintah Street.

Joe Santoyo, 52, and Clemente Perez Salgado, 32, died in the fire.

Colorado Springs police arrested Derrick "Nicky" Johnson, 24, for allegedly starting the fire by spreading gasoline in the ground-floor hallway. He was upset that his girlfriend and mother of his baby had broken up with him, according to an arrest affidavit. Shortly after he threatened to kill her and torture the baby - both of whom were staying at Castle West - the complex was engulfed in flames, according to police.

Johnson has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree arson and six other felonies.

Colorado Springs attorneys Ken Jaray and David Webster filed the lawsuit on behalf of 53 former residents and their children. They do not represent families of the men killed in the fire.

Some of the complaints alleged in the lawsuit:

* Managers advertised that the complex had "controlled-access entries," and each resident was given a key to the building entry doors. Yet for some time before the fire, people got into the complex through doors "which were left unlocked and/or broken." Though the residents complained about the broken doors, they were never fixed.

* In 2005 and 2006, the Police Department received more than 500 calls "concerning complaints of burglary, drugs, theft, weapons, trespassing, disturbance, suspicious persons and other criminal activity at the apartment building." Those calls should have alerted the owner "of problems with security and/or criminal activity in and around the building." That made the need for locked building doors even more pressing, the lawsuits states, and created "unreasonably dangerous conditions."

* The complex didn't have adequate smoke alarms, and managers "failed to maintain fire protection devices."

* The owners should have warned residents there was asbestos in the building and removed it. They "had a duty to advise the tenants that in the event of a fire the entire building could be condemned, making it impossible for residents to obtain their property." Firefighters and a recovery team hired by the owner salvaged some valuables from the ruined building, cleaned them and returned them to some former residents.

The lawsuit seeks money to compensate for "significant and continuing damages."

Parnes and Sannella denied allegations of "mismanagement or wrongdoing" in their response to the lawsuit.

The owners "were victimized, like the plaintiffs, by what appears to be an act of arson," said their attorney, Mike O'Donnell of Denver. "The fault lies with the criminal arsonist, not with the management of the building."

Jaray and Webster tried to get access to evidence in the criminal case against Johnson, but 4th Judicial District Judge Jann DuBois denied the request, citing a court order to prevent pretrial publicity to ensure Johnson gets a fair trial.

O'Donnell said his clients would also like to look at that evidence to help defend against the lawsuit.

"The biggest reason we brought the lawsuit is these people were left homeless and didn't have representation," Webster said.

No trial date has been set.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0110 or dennis.huspeni@gazette.com