Mother Plans to Sue City Over Fatal Blaze

STAMFORD -- The mother of three daughters killed in a Christmas morning house fire in December plans to sue the city, officials said Thursday.



Joseph Capalbo, Stamford's legal affairs director, confirmed that a Massachusetts attorney representing Madonna Badger sent a notice of intent to sue via certified mail to the city legal department and the town clerk Thursday. Capalbo said he could not comment on the contents of the notice because he hadn't seen it.



The notice was sent by Frank Corso, a personal injury attorney with offices in Boston and Rehoboth, Mass., who declined to comment Thursday afternoon.



"I'm unable to talk to you right now," Corso said, before hanging up.



Badger lost her parents and three daughters -- 9-year-old Lily and 7-year-old twins Sarah and Grace -- on Dec. 25 when a raging fire tore through her 116-year-old, three-story home on Shippan Point, an affluent waterfront community on Long Island Sound.



The notice from Badger adds to the growing collection of legal matters arising from the fatal fire.



Last month, attorneys for Matthew Badger, the estranged husband of Madonna Badger, filed a notice of intent to sue city officials for negligence in their inspections of the home before the fire. The notice further alleged that city building officials intentionally destroyed evidence when they demolished what was left of Madonna Badger's home a day after the fire.



At the time, Capalbo rebutted the claims in Matthew Badger's notice to sue and called the allegations "baseless and without merit."



In late April, an insurance company covering contractor Michael Borcina's company, Tiberias Construction, filed a lawsuit asking a New York state judge to release it from defending lawsuits and paying claims related to the fire because of alleged misrepresentations on his applications and yearly reports.



An initial investigation revealed the fire began after Borcina, a friend of Madonna Badger, cleaned out the fireplace shortly after 3 a.m., placing embers in a bag and leaving them inside a new mudroom, or just outside in an enclosed trash bin.



Borcina and Madonna Badger escaped the fire. The three girls and Madonna Badger's mother, Pauline Johnson, died from smoke inhalation. Her father, Lomer Johnson, died from blunt head trauma suffered in a fall outside a second-floor window and onto the roof.



Police and fire officials described the blaze as accidental and said no arrests were anticipated, but State's Attorney David Cohen has been reviewing an investigation of the fire since February and will make the decision whether criminal charges are filed.



A demolition crew tore the house down on Dec. 26. City Chief Building Official Robert DeMarco inspected what was left of the home with Stamford Fire Marshal Barry Callahan before declaring the building unsafe and issuing the order to have it razed.



DeMarco has said he checked with the city fire marshal's office before ordering the demolition.