Jury trials have been set to begin on Sept. 7 in five civil lawsuits filed in connection with the November 2006 fire at Anderson Guest House that claimed 11 lives.
Three of the lawsuits concern people who died in the Nov. 27, 2006, blaze. Rebecca Moyer and her sister, Donna Lawrence, filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of their brother, Nathan Fisher. Lawrence Henson filed one on behalf of his sister, Patricia Henson. And Reba Turner filed her lawsuit on behalf of her daughter, Amy Brown, with Dara Brown and Dallas Brown listed as co-plaintiffs.
The other two suits, filed by Earl Story and William Gandy, allege injuries and / or property damage as a result of the fire.
Listed as defendants in the suits are Joplin River of Life Ministries, Guest House owners Robert and Laverne Dupont, Shirley Brannon, facility administrator at the time of the fire, and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Motion hearings on the five suits were heard this morning in Newton County Circuit Court, with Judge Timothy Perigo presiding. The trials are expected to begin at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Newton County Circuit Court, where the cases were moved on changes of venue from McDonald County.
The fire claimed the lives of 10 residents and a caretaker at the long-term care facility. Glen Taff, Mark O’Ber, Amy Brown, Nathan Fisher, Patricia Henson, Brian Rudnick, Don Schorzman, Alta Lemons, Isiah Joyce, John “John John” Walterstedt and Charles Rodney Smith died as a result of the blaze.
Almost 50 years before the Guest House fire, in 1957, a blaze swept through a nursing home in Warrenton, Mo., killing 72 residents. Lawmakers then vowed to pass laws requiring sprinkler systems in all nursing homes and other institutions. But these promises were put on the back burner.
And in 1979, another deadly fire at a residential care center in Farmington, Mo., killed 25.
The deadly blaze in Anderson prompted state Rep. Kevin Wilson (R, Neosho) to propose adding staff to help the state fire marshal’s office in checking nursing homes to see if the facilities meet state compliance standards. Other parts of the bill mandated the addition of smoke detectors and heat rise indicators that note spikes in temperatures.
Wilson’s measure passed the House by a 158-0 vote and the Missour Senate by a 32-1 margin.
After the blaze, Bill Zieres, the state’s deputy fire marshal, told the Neosho Daily News the attic had about six inches of blown cellulose insulation. Investigators believe the fire smoldered for some time before breaking through the ceiling into the living areas.
The building which housed the Guest House was built in 1982 and housed a grocery store for about a year. Afterward, the structure became a nursing home complex. In the mid-1990s, the Anderson Guest House was formed.
