A daughter of a longtime resident of a Boyle Heights housing development who was trapped and died in her apartment during a 2022 fire has reached a settlement with the city of Los Angeles and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit was originally brought by Brenda Marquez and her sister, Sonia Velazquez. Both were daughters of the late Victoria Velazquez. Sonia Velazquez herself later died and her sister remained a plaintiff. The decedent’s grandchildren were added as plaintiffs in an amended complaint.
On Friday, the attorneys told Judge Virginia Keeny during a final status conference that the case was resolved. A minute order prepared by the judge’s clerk did not reveal any terms. The judge vacated the scheduled Sept. 14 trial.
This wrongful death case was filed in April 2023 and stemmed from an apartment fire in the HACLA-controlled Pico Gardens public housing complex in Boyle Heights. In 2015, HACLA chained close one of the only two entrances/exits, on Clarence Street, to the complex due to what they said were ” security needs,” according to the suit.
“The area on both sides of the gated entrance soon became a de facto parking lot and remained that way for years,” according to the complaint.
When a fire broke out in the middle of the night on Aug. 10, 2022, firefighters could not get to the housing complex faster because of the blocked gate and were forced to set up a command post outside the complex, dragging hoses and equipment in on foot, the suit stated.
The blaze was eventually extinguished, but Victoria Velazquez was found dead in her bathroom hiding next to her bath tub filling with water, apparently sheltering in place waiting to be rescued, according to the suit.
The suit alleged the illegally locked gate that created the blockade was a “dangerous condition” that caused a delay in the victim’s rescue and the extra time was a “substantial factor” in causing her death.
In their court papers, attorneys for the city did not dispute that the gate to the complex was blocked, but argued it had no substantial effect on the LAFD’s response time and therefore did not cause Victoria Velazquez’s death.