Mississippi University for Women sought closure Thursday over the loss of four students to a January motel fire in Hoover, Ala.; meanwhile, lawyers for the students” parents and the motel”s owners are just getting started.
MUW planted four redbud trees on its campus to memorialize Jaslynn McGee of Corinth, Jamelia Brown of Grenada, and Catherine Ann Muse and Alondan Turner of Cordova, Ala.
The four freshman perished when the Hoover Days Inn they were staying in burned Jan. 16, in a fire suspected to have begun in the room of a maintenance man who was burning incense on a prayer mantle. The parents of each student filed suit in the following weeks alleging the hotel owners failed to provide adequate fire safety measures to prevent and extinguish a fire and failed to warn motel guests of the fire.
Three separate wrongful death suits have been filed in Jefferson County (Ala.) Circuit Court, each naming the owners of the Days Inn and the maintenance man, Dhirajlal Bhagat, an illegal immigrant who has supposedly returned to India, as defendants.
A motion hearing has been set for May 7 with Circuit Court Judge Houston Brown to determine whether Bhagat, who disappeared before being notified of the suits, can be served notice through publications such as local newspapers, according to Jason Shamblin, attorney for the Turner and Muse families.
“It would be up to the judge, who will decide whether and how we can serve him by publication,” said Shamblin Thursday. “The rules of civil procedure require when a person is sued that they be served a copy of the complaint. Once that person is served, that triggers the timing in which they have to file a response either admitting to the allegations of the complaint or denying them.”
Shamblin”s firm, Cory, Watson, Crowder & Degaris PC, of Birmingham, Ala. has “made great efforts” to find and serve Bhagat.
Casey Lott, attorney for the McGee family, faces the same problem. He is scheduled to meet with Circuit Court Judge G. William Noble May 4 for a motion of service by publication.
Lawyers for the defendants, Sirote & Permutt PC, of Birmingham, who are also representing Bhagat, are opposing the motion, Lott said.
“That ought to be interesting, but I don”t think it carries much weight,” said Lott of the opposition to the motion.
Lawyers for Sirote & Permutt PC did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.
The argument against he motion is based on the assumption Bhagat is in India, but if his representatives can provide an address, Bhagat can be served via the Hague Convention, a multi-national legal jurisdiction agreement, Lott explained. It”s unlikely Bhagat would be extradited back to the United States to be present for the civil suit, but Lott said his absence would be an advantage to the plaintiffs.
Neither lawyer is convinced Bhagat has left the country. All remaining defendants have filed answers to the complaints denying liability in the deaths.
A motion to allow an out-of-state lawyer for the defendants to practice in Alabama has been filed in the third suit, brought by the parents of Jamelia Brown. That motion will be heard by Judge Brown May 4.
In addition to motion hearings, the meetings of judges and lawyers will also serve as status conferences. Lawyers for the plaintiffs expect trial dates will likely be set at the hearings, but for no sooner than 2011.
Multiple cases against the same defendants are commonly consolidated, and Shamblin believes these cases may be consolidated before going to trial.
“I would not be surprised if the case before Judge Noble is transferred to Judge Brown. Currently we have not seen any effort by any parties to have that done,” he said.
The defendants in all three suits are seeking judgments “in an amount to be determined by jury along with interests and costs.”
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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