One suit settled in fire which killed 8

By Brian Kelly

Herald Writer

ARLINGTON — The owners of Arlington Manor have reached a settlement agreement with the family of one of the eight people who died in a 1998 fire at the boarding home.

The family of Thelma Jean Johnson filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owners of the boarding home in April, claiming Jora Inc. did not maintain smoke and fire alarms or fire extinguishers in the two-story building.

Thomas Resick, a Bellingham attorney representing Johnson’s two sons and two daughters, said late last week that a settlement had been reached. Terms were not disclosed.

"We examined this case for approximately two years," Resick said. "We felt it was meritorious, although complicated. It was well worth the effort because of the peace of mind it brought to the family and the finality to all concerned."

Eight women died in the 39-bed boarding home in the 1998 fire, Snohomish County’s deadliest. The civil lawsuit was the first one stemming from the fire, although the families of three other women killed in the fire reached a settlement agreement with the facility’s insurance company in early 1999.

The lawsuit sought unspecified damages for Johnson’s pain and suffering, as well as medical and funeral expenses and attorney costs. Legal counsel for the owners of Arlington Manor strongly disputed the lawsuit’s allegations.

Although some believed Johnson started the fatal fire, Arlington investigators never specifically blamed her.

Resick said that no one in the room where the fire started survived to say how it really began.

"I’ve examined the entire record in this case and could find no evidence — scientific evidence or eyewitnesses — that Thelma Johnson was responsible for that fire. It was absolutely absent," he said.

Arlington Manor, a turn-of-the-century building that once housed Arlington Hospital, had been operated as a boarding home by Jora since 1979. It was not equipped with sprinklers at the time, and the fire led to unsuccessful calls for laws requiring the retrofitting of such care homes with sprinklers.

You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.