Jackson County jury awards $11M to mother of man killed in fire at Kansas City rental
A Jackson County jury awarded $11 million in damages to the mother of a man killed in his Kansas City rental home, whose owners were accused of failing to keep the property up to city safety codes.
The jury reached its decision in early July following a civil trial brought by Diana Trotter, the mother of 32-year-old Michael King. The judgment was made against Jason and Jana DeLong, Kansas City area realtors and rental property owners, and their company Lealan Homes LLC.
The jury awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and $8 million for aggravating circumstances. Also included was the cost of the home, the cost of burial expenses, the average cost of a home inspection and the cost of a smoke detector.
In December 2017, Kansas City firefighters responded to a house at 1210 W. 41st St. in the Volker neighborhood. King was found dead in his upstairs apartment and the cause was determined by the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office to be smoke and soot inhalation.
In 2019, Trotter sued the DeLongs for wrongful death, alleging they failed to abide by safety requirements under Kansas City municipal codes, including a lack of smoke detectors and faulty wiring in the house, which had only one exit point for the upstairs unit. The lawsuit cited burns on King’s hands as evidence he had awoken to the morning blaze and attempted to crawl out before he was overcome by the fire.
Defense attorneys argued about the cause of the fire, suggesting a gas can King kept in his upstairs apartment had spilled onto the floor. They also questioned whether King was asleep at the time and whether a smoke alarm would have made a difference, citing testimony from doctors who said King had recently used cocaine.
An attorney for the DeLongs did not respond to The Star’s request for comment late Friday afternoon.
Reached by phone Friday, attorney Paula Brown of the law firm Scharnhorst Ast Kennard Griffin PC, which represented Trotter, said the mother wanted answers for her son’s death “and we believe that she got those answers.”
Before the verdict, Brown said the DeLongs had apparently profited from the fire, remodeling the home into a luxury short-term rental complete with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. She said the jury appeared to take issue with that point considering King had reported a malfunctioning refrigerator one month earlier that was never fixed.
Brown added she hopes the verdict will encourage landlords to make property upkeep a priority.
“Our hope is that other landlords read this story, see this verdict, and take a second look at the properties they rent and make sure that they’ve done what they should do as landlords to make these properties safe,” Brown said.
