NHC Fire LitigationDavid Randolph Smith & Associateswww.drslawfirm.com

Nursing Homes & SprinklersAt the time of the NHC fire 85% of all nursing homes in the United States had installed sprinklers. NFPA Journal, (March/April 2004).At the time of the NHC fire 84% of Tennessees nursing homes had installed sprinkler systems. Only 55 out of 343 Tennessee Nursing Homes lacked sprinklers. Tennessee Dept. of Health Report. The Associated Press (Sept. 29, 2003).

Nursing Home Fires are Frequent Events and Sprinklers Save Lives There are, on average, over 3,000 fires per year in Health Care Facilities that care for the aged. NFPA Journal (Nov./Dec. 2003).Sprinklers reduce the risk of death by 82% in buildings that care for the aged and sick. NFPA Journal (Nov./Dec. 2003).

NFPA Journal (Nov./Dec. 2003)

NFPA Journal (Nov./Dec. 2003)

Sprinklers Save livesThe NFPA has no record of a fire killing more than two people in a completely sprinklered public assembly, educational, institutional or residential building where the system was working properly. NFPA, Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act (March 25, 2003) p. 2.

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Risk of Fire in Unsprinklered BuildingsThere were many prior fatal fires in nursing homes that prompted strong recommendations to install sprinklers in nursing homes.On February 26, 2003 16 nursing home patients died at the Greenwood Nursing Home in Hartford Connecticut. There were no sprinklers in this nursing home. There was a national call to install sprinklers in nursing homes. CNN (Feb. 26, 2003).

Extensive Media CoverageThe 16 deaths in the non-sprinklered Hartford, Conn. nursing home fire came 6 days after the deaths of 99 people in the Station Nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I.(Feb. 20, 2003). There were no sprinklers in this club.The national outcry over the lack of sprinklers caused the NFPA, National Fire Sprinkler Association, American Fire Sprinkler Association, and International Association of Fire Chiefs to endorse the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act of 2003 (H.R. 1824, April, 2003) (to create 5 year property depreciation).

10 deaths23 Hospitalized10 in Critical ConditionMany residents mobility impairedExtremely difficult to get patients out of the facilityNo sprinklers in the facility

Warnings The Nursing Home industry was on notice that the lack of sprinklers in buildings occupied by the elderly and infirm was a time bomb just ticking away. Connecticut Attorney General Christopher Morano (March 11, 2003) (comments after the Greenwood Nursing Home fire in Hartford, Conn. that killed 16 people in an unsprinklered nursing home). Associated Press, (March 11, 2003).

Beaumont Nursing Home, LittleRock, AR. 2 deaths, 12injuries. Water to sprinklersturned off.

Oakville Nursing Home.Memphis, TN. 3 deaths, 18injuries. No sprinklers.

Hill Haven Rehabilitation andConvalescent Home, Norfolk VA.12 deaths. No sprinklers. Four-storybuilding nearly identical toNHC.

Dardanelle Nursing Home,Dardanellle, AR. 4 deaths, 10injuries. No sprinklers.

Woburn Nursing Center, Woburn,MA. No deaths in a sprinklerednursing home.

Sprinklers Prevent DeathsIn the NHC fire public officials criticized the lack of sprinklers and stated sprinklers would have saved lives: We do know that with technology [sprinklers], the fire would have been put out quicker, and we probably would have had a lot more people survive this fire. Nashville Fire Dept. Assist. Chief Lee Bergeron. Fire Official Blames Death Toll on Lack of Sprinklers. The Tennessean (Sept. 27, 2003).

The Right WayBy contrast, in April 2004 a fire broke out at the Broadmoor Assisted Living Center in Murfreesboro, TN and three sprinkler heads extinguished the fire with no loss of life. Sprinklers Credited with Minimizing Fire at Center, The Tennessean (April 10, 2004).

Common Law DutyWalter Champion Co. v. Dodson, 555 S.E. 2d 519 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001) (failure to have sprinklers could constitute premises defect)In re One Meridian Plaza Fire Litigation, 1994 WL 116028 (E.D. Pa., 1994)(issue of common law duty to install sprinklers in high rise was for the jury)U.S. Borax & Chem. Co. v. Archer Daniels Midland Co., 506 N.W.2d 456 (Iowa App. 1993)(failure to install sprinklers stated common law negligence claim for jury)Boardman Molded Products, Inc. v. St. Elizabeth Hosp. Med. Center,1990 WL 152471 (Ohio Ct. App. 1990)(verdict upheld for breach of common law duty to install sprinklers).

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1998 Survey

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2002 Survey

2003 Survey

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David Randolph Smith & Associates1910 Acklen AvenueNashville, Tennessee 37212www.drslawfirm.com