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Often, where management knew about the danger and did not fix it. Apartment fires and carbon monoxide exposures are usually preventable. The records showing whether they were preventable usually sit with the property manager, not with you.
Carbon monoxide injury is often missed on the first medical visit, because the symptoms mimic flu. What cannot wait is telling every doctor that carbon monoxide exposure is suspected, and asking management in writing to keep its maintenance records. Call 713-521-0059.
Work order histories, prior tenant complaints, fire marshal inspections, alarm testing logs and vendor invoices. Together they can establish what management knew about a faulty heater, a blocked flue, a dead detector or an unsafe electrical panel, and when it knew. In many of these claims, the records show whether someone was told about the danger and left it in place.
The property already generates this paper as part of running the building. Maintenance requests and their closure dates. Inspection reports and code citations. Alarm installation and battery records. Complaints from other units about the same condition.
The records above, read in order. A maintenance request that was closed without a repair, a detector that was logged as missing, or an inspection that noted the same heater twice can each matter. Where the same problem was reported before and not fixed, the claim usually looks very different. Emails and invoices between management and its maintenance vendors can show whether a repair was quoted, delayed or declined.
Your own records count too. Keep copies of every repair request you made through the resident portal, by email or by text. Save any notices management sent about heaters, alarms or electrical work. If a neighbor complained about the same condition, write down their name and unit number. Neighbors move out, and a former tenant can be hard to find a year later.
Carbon monoxide is the harder of the two to recognize. The symptoms mimic flu and the injury is neurological, so the exposure is frequently missed on the first medical visit. Symptoms such as headaches, nausea, dizziness and confusion that ease when you leave the apartment and return when you come back are worth mentioning to your doctor.
Tell every treating provider that carbon monoxide exposure is suspected, and describe the source and the duration. Carboxyhemoglobin levels fall quickly once you leave the environment, so a level drawn late can look normal after a serious exposure. Cognitive and memory symptoms weeks later are common. They are frequently attributed to something else if the mechanism is not in the chart. Our page on brain injury claims covers that kind of injury.
Ask for the fire department’s incident number and the fire marshal’s report when it is ready. Photograph the unit, the heater, the detectors and the electrical panel before anything is repaired or thrown away. Keep a list of what you lost, and save receipts for a hotel, clothing and replacement items.
Write to management and ask that it preserve its work orders, complaints, alarm records and vendor invoices. If you have renter’s insurance, report the loss to your own insurer as well, and ask what it covers for temporary housing. Keep your lease and any written notice from management about moving out or moving back in. Keep every medical bill and explanation of benefits. Under Section 41.0105 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, recovery of medical expenses is limited to amounts actually paid or incurred.
A fire or a carbon monoxide exposure can be fatal. Under Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the surviving spouse, children and parents may bring a wrongful death action under Section 71.004. A survival action under Section 71.021 carries the claims the person who died could have brought. Our page on who can file a wrongful death claim explains who may bring it.
Under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, most injury claims must be filed within two years after the day the claim accrues, which is usually the date of the injury. For a death claim, Section 16.003(b) runs the two years from the date of death. There can be exceptions, and the facts decide which apply. Records and the damaged unit can change long before that, so it is usually better to act early.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Most of these records belong to the property manager, its maintenance vendors and the fire marshal. Management has little reason to keep them unless someone asks. Your own repair requests, photographs and medical records are the part you control, so keep them together from the start.
We start with what management knew and when, by requesting its work orders, complaints, alarm records and vendor invoices. Then we look at every responsible party, including the owner, the management company and any contractor that installed or serviced the heater, flue, alarms or wiring. Where carbon monoxide is involved, we make sure the exposure and its source are documented in your medical records.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people across Texas.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
Through the paper the property already generates. Work order histories, prior tenant complaints, fire marshal inspections, alarm testing logs and vendor invoices can show what management knew and when.
Not necessarily. Carboxyhemoglobin levels fall quickly once you leave the environment, so a level drawn late can look normal after a serious exposure.
Cognitive and memory symptoms weeks later are common after carbon monoxide exposure. They are frequently attributed to something else if the mechanism is not in the chart, so tell every provider what happened.
Complaints from other units about the same condition can matter a great deal. Where the same problem was reported before and not fixed, the claim usually looks very different.
Under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, most injury claims must be filed within two years after the day the claim accrues, which is usually the date of the injury. In a death case, the period runs from the date of death. The records and the unit usually need attention much sooner.
Under Section 71.004 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the surviving spouse, children and parents may bring a wrongful death action. A survival action under Section 71.021 is a separate claim.