Apartment tenant sues, alleging Iowa building collapse was preventable

Iowa building collapse lawsuit says owners ignored warning signs - The Washington Post

Sitting in her apartment in Davenport, Iowa, last month, Dayna Feuerbach heard a thunderous noise. Her power cut out. Then, alarms started blaring.

On Monday, Feuerbach filed a lawsuit saying the building’s May 28 collapse — which killed three people — could have been prevented if its current and former owners had not repeatedly ignored warnings about the “imminent danger” residents faced. The complaint names the city, the six-story building’s current and former owners, and the engineering and contracting companies that worked on it as defendants who “took no action until it was too late.”

Davenport’s city attorney did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post on Monday evening. But days after the collapse, the city released documents, including several engineering reports, showing that the building’s owners were told about structural issues before the incident. Those documents bolstered the lawsuit, which is about “getting answers” about the collapse, said Jeffrey Goodman, an attorney representing Feuerbach.

“What all of that really demonstrated was years of neglect for the building,” Goodman said. “And red flag after red flag that something devastating was going to happen.”

About 20 minutes after the lawsuit was filed, city officials held a news conference to announce the names of the three victims found between Saturday morning and early Monday morning. They were identified as Branden Colvin Sr., 42; Ryan Hitchcock, 51; and Daniel Prien, 60.

“I want to express my care and concern, heartfelt, to the families and friends,” Mayor Mike Matson said at the news conference. “I can’t express that enough.”

In a statement after the collapse, Andrew Wold, the building’s owner, and the property management team also expressed condolences.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with our tenants and families during this difficult time,” the statement said.

Attempts to reach Wold on Monday evening were unsuccessful. It is unclear whether he has an attorney.

The Davenport was built in 1906 with around 50 apartments. About two years ago, Wold and his companies acquired the building for $4.2 million, according to the lawsuit.

It alleges that in the “days, weeks, months, and even years” before the collapse, the building’s owners had been warned about a part of its exterior west wall — the same portion that “ultimately failed and initiated this disaster.”

In July 2021, one month after a building collapse in Surfside, Fla., killed 98, the city gave a notice about the “structural deterioration” of the wall and said an engineering analysis was necessary, the lawsuit states.

By September, the city had given another notice, but the owners allegedly did not submit an engineer’s report. According to the complaint, the owners did not apply for or receive permits for repair work until earlier this year, despite notices from the city years earlier.

A Feb. 8 engineer’s report stated that the exterior west wall had an area of brick that was “cracked and crumbling.” At the time, the report said, the issue did not pose an “imminent threat,” but it added that repairs would be needed.

Later that month, the city issued a permit for the repairs listed in the engineer’s report. Throughout March and April, work was done on the building but “without the necessary shoring and bracing of the dangerous wall,” according to the lawsuit.

In late May, another report from the same company stated that large patches on the west side of the building “appear ready to fall imminently, which may create a safety hazard to cars or passersby.”

The report was dated May 24, four days before the collapse.

“The fact that the building was not evacuated is inexcusable,” Goodman said.

The following day, a city staff member visited the Davenport for an inspection. The repairs had not been completed, but when entering notes from the inspection later on, the staffer erroneously indicated the permit had passed, according to the city.

City officials clarified after the collapse that the permit should have been marked as “incomplete.”

On May 26, a contractor who had previously declined to work on the building out of safety concerns for his employees, visited the site and told workers: “Get away. You’re going to die.”

Two days later, part of the building collapsed, killing three residents and leaving dozens displaced. That day, workers had removed bricks from the building, though it did not have proper supports, according to the lawsuit.

In doing so, they “were stripping the upper portions of this wall from the critical structural support they needed, and the collapse ultimately occurred as a result,” the complaint states.

It added that when the Davenport building’s owners “did finally take action,” they “made sure to attempt everything in the cheapest and most dangerous way possible,” including working without proper support for the building.

Goodman said that “there’s a lot that needs to happen” for residential buildings to be as safe as possible — including more building regulations, and more owners, developers, engineers and inspectors following their responsibilities.

Not just in Davenport but across the country, he said.

“Oftentimes by victims coming together to seek to hold the wrongdoers accountable, that could be a way to help inspire change,” Goodman said.