Widower, father sues companies over deadly carbon monoxide poisoning
The heater’s burning of propane caused fatal amounts of carbon monoxide to spread and cause the deaths of Amy Kirk and her sons, William and John.
NACOGDOCHES, Texas — A man claims multiple companies’ negligence led to an “extraordinarily large amount of carbon monoxide” to cause the deaths of his wife and their two sons inside their Nacogdoches home in June.
Amy Manning Kirk, 52, William Manning Kirk, 22 and John Standley Kirk, 17, died on June 11 this year at the family’s second home on Mystic Lane in Nacogdoches, police said. At the time, officials suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.
In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Harris County, Brett Kirk, the husband of Amy and father to William and John, said he negotiated with and hired multiple contractors to perform work at this home, including the installation of a new pool heater. The lawsuit states the heater was supposed to fueled by natural gas, but instead it had propane gas.
Brett is a resident of Harris County and the Nacogdoches house was meant to be the family’s second home. He is being represented by East Texas native and Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee.
When the propane burned, it caused carbon monoxide gas to be emitted. On the night of June 11, the heater turned on without warning, and that same night, Amy Kirk and her two sons decided to spend the night in the home after working on the house all day. The heater’s burning of propane caused fatal amounts of carbon monoxide to spread and cause the three deaths, the lawsuit alleges.
Brett Kirk is seeking over $50 million in damages.
The lawsuit blames the following companies for the mother and sons’ deaths: Hayward Holdings, Inc., J.B. Crawford Construction, LLC, East Texas Home Inspection Services, LLC, Perry Propane & Appliances, LLC and Duran Pools & Spas, Inc.
Brett Kirk points out that ETHI’s home inspections failed to identify key safety issues, such as the existing pool heater being too close to the home and failures in the A/C duct system.
Hayward, the manufacturer of the pool heater, failed to give a warning that there was an issue related to the gas conversion procedure that could cause a carbon monoxide hazard, the document reads.
The lawsuit alleges Duran installed the pool heater too close to the structure and violated relevant safety codes. Crawford connected the Kirk propane tank to the Hayward pool heater, and Perry Propane gave propane to an unsafe connection.
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