Double Fatal Fire On Minooka's Bell Rd Spurs Lawsuit

MINOOKA, IL — A month after a deadly overnight blaze swept through a rural ranch house along Minooka's Bell Road, one of the survivors has filed a lawsuit in hopes of determining what caused the fire that killed her 5-year-old son, Waveland Fitch, and her mother, Susan Weber.

Chicago's Mendoza Law firm has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Jennifer Doti at Will County's Courthouse in downtown Joliet. The plaintiff's 57-year-old mother died at a local hospital about 75 minutes after flames consumed the house at 24515 South Bell Road. Firefighters found the body of the second victim, Doti's boy, inside the structure.

The fire broke out around 12:45 a.m. on Feb. 14. Doti and her 4-year-old child escaped the fire. The damaged house is surrounded by farmland and woodlands. The property is isolated from several other housing developments along Bell Road.

Doti and her mother had only lived at the farmstead for two weeks, according to the lawsuit. They were considered "guests or tenants," according to Mendoza Law.

The house was recently renovated, and those improvements may have caused the deadly fire, according to Doti and her lawyers.

"The contractors, manufacturers and distributors may be among those persons who could be responsible for the occurrence," Doti's lawyers argue. "Electric baseboard heaters were installed at the premises and were used, at least in part, to heat the premises at the time ...

"Upon information and belief, one of the baseboard heaters was defective, malfunctioned and caused the occurrence, or, in the alternative, one of the baseboard heaters was incorrectly and negligently installed and such incorrect and negligent installation caused the occurrence."

To this day, the fire-damaged property remains cordoned off with police tape, and Doti has not been able to return to the site since she does not own the land, according to her lawyers.

"In order to help determine which person (or persons) may be responsible for the occurrence, Doti desires to have her cause and origin expert inspect the premises," court documents show.

Her lawyers have asked a Will County judge to issue a protective order commanding all of the defendants: First Midwest Bank Joliet, village of Minooka, Channahon Fire Protection District, Minooka Fire Protection District, Office of State Fire Marshal, Grundy County Coroner, Will County Coroner, Daulton Family Farm, Victoria Allen, Nathan Pucel and State Farm "to refrain from activities ... (that) could result in destruction, alteration or disturbance" of the fire-damaged property.

Secondly, the lawsuit seeks access to any and all investigative reports as well as photographs taken by the authorities who investigated the fire.

According to the plaintiffs, their client is pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit for negligence and product liability, in spite of the fact that "the person (or persons) who may be responsible for the occurrence remain unidentified to Doti, however."

For that reason, "it is therefore necessary for Doti to conduct discovery in order to ascertain the identity of the person (or persons) who may be responsible for the occurrence," Mendoza Law contends.

At the time of last month's double fatal fire, First Midwest Bank Joliet handled the land trusts involving the Bell Road property's ownership. The owners or beneficiaries of the land trusts are: Daulton Family Farm Partnership, Victoria Allen and Nathan Pucel, according to the plaintiffs.

Original Patch Coverage: 5-Year-Old, Grandmother, Die After Minooka House Fire