Judge scraps lawsuit against Columbia Housing from daughter of gas leak victim
A lawsuit aimed at holding the Columbia Housing Authority accountable for the death of a former resident was scrapped on Tuesday after a federal judge dismissed the case.
The civil suit was brought forth in January by Danielle Washington. Her father, Calvin Witherspoon Jr. died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the housing authority’s Allen Benedict Court apartment complex in 2019. Another resident, Derrick Caldwell Roper was also poisoned to death.
The deadly gas leak triggered a mass evacuation from the property that garnered national attention. A subsequent investigation by the city found 869 code violations including missing carbon monoxide detectors. The housing authority paid an $11,000 fine and the former CEO, Gilbert Walker, retired soon after, but no criminal charges were filed.
Washington’s lawsuit set out to prove that the housing authority allowed Allen Benedict Court to fall into a state of disrepair and ignored its own safety protocols. By doing so, the complaint said, the housing authority “acted with deliberate indifference and conscious disregard” that ultimately led to Witherspoon’s death and violated his constitutional rights to due process under the 14th amendment.
At an Aug. 17 court hearing, Charles Turner, the attorney for the housing authority, said Washington’s claims “do not rise to a constitutionally significant level” and, therefore, her case should be dismissed.
In a judgment filed Tuesday, Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. granted the housing authority’s request to dismiss the case.
Though there are no other pending federal lawsuits, the housing authority is facing at least seven lawsuits in the state court system from former Allen Benedict Court residents or their relatives who claim the property was poorly maintained.
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
