Family of woman who died in Columbia Belk bathroom files lawsuit against store
The family of a woman whose body was not found for four days after she died in a department store bathroom has filed a lawsuit against Belk.
Attorneys for the family of Bessie Durham, a custodian whose body was found in a bathroom at the Belk at Columbiana Centre in September of last year, announced the lawsuit Tuesday morning. The lawsuit was filed on the one-year anniversary of when Durham’s body was found.
Authorities believe the 63-year-old Durham suffered a medical emergency and died inside a locked bathroom stall at the store while she was cleaning. She went undiscovered over the weekend until staff found her the following Monday.
Attorneys Chris Hart, Seth Rose and Justin Bamberg, a trio of state lawmakers, say Belk neglected to inspect its bathrooms for days, leaving Durham’s remains unrecovered while her family didn’t know where she was or what had happened to her.
Because Durham’s body was left alone for so long, the suit alleges Durham’s family could smell her body inside the casket at the funeral due to advanced decomposition. A press release announcing the lawsuit quotes one of Durham’s relatives as saying, “We were not able to properly bury our loved one because Belk was too busy making money. We want to see changes made so that no other family has to suffer like we have.”
“This is an incredibly tragic situation that should never have happened,” Hart, the lead attorney on the case, said in the press release. “Our client’s loved one was a loyal and dedicated worker and Belk’s gross negligence has etched the most indelible horror on the family.”
The State has reached out to Belk for the company’s reaction to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks damages for the family’s pain and suffering, as well as other costs incurred by the family.
“We hope that this lawsuit serves as a wake-up call to Belk and other corporations, that they have a moral and legal obligation to treat workers and their families with dignity and respect,” Hart said.
At a press conference Tuesday, the attorneys for Durham’s family held up a photo of Durham’s cart, which they said was in a hallway in the store outside the bathroom for four days.
Hart said Belk had installed locking mechanisms on its bathrooms after a shooting at Columbiana Centre last year, meaning no one could access the bathroom where Durham was without a key.
The legal team said they have reason to believe Belk called Durham’s employer, a contracted cleaning service, during the time she was missing about other bathrooms not being cleaned. Durham also signed in that morning on app so her employer, KBS Cleaning Service, knew she was at work, but then she never logged back off.
It appears no one attempted to locate Durham until her family contacted law enforcement when they hadn’t heard from her for two days, Hart said, and the store still didn’t check the restroom until Monday. Hart said the family will also be filing a lawsuit against KBS.
Hart said the family hopes to use the money from the lawsuit to establish a scholarship for low-income girls to attend a trade school.
This story was originally published September 19, 2023 at 9:25 AM.
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