Oakland ends Ghost Ship fire lawsuit

Council agrees to pay $399,000 to 12 tenants

The Oakland City Council on Tuesday agreed to pay $399,000 to a dozen residents who lived at the Ghost Ship warehouse when it caught fire in December 2016, killing 36 people.

The agreement to pay the 12 tenants settles all claims brought against the city in a civil lawsuit filed in 2017, bringing the total paid to just over $33 million. Earlier this year, Oakland settled with the families of 32 of the 36 victims for $23.5 million, along with $9.2 million for Samuel Maxwell, who survived the fire but with severe injuries that will require lifelong medical care.

All but one of the 36 victims were visiting the Fruitvale District warehouse to attend an electronic dance party Dec. 2, 2016, when a fire broke out on the first floor and spread upstairs.

Eight of the 12 tenants the city settled with were there on the night of the fire.

As the inferno grew, some tried to fight the flames with fire extinguishers or carry resident Peter Wadsworth, who had an injured ankle, to safety. Wadsworth had lived with about 25 others at the cluttered warehouse and was the only resident who died.

Most of the residents lived in trailers or lofts built on the first floor, where the electricity was provided through a series of electrical cords fed through a hole in the wall between the warehouse and an auto body shop.

Master tenant Derick Almena lived with his wife and three children upstairs, in the space where parties were thrown.

Almena, who was staying at an Oakland hotel on the night of the fire, and tenant Max Harris were named as defendants in the civil suit and are not among the tenants receiving a settlement from the city. Harris was acquitted of 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter at a trial last year, and the jury hung on convicting Almena of the same counts. Almena faces a retrial scheduled for next year.

Ghost Ship warehouse resident Carmen Brito, who escaped the fire, called on the Alameda District Attorney’s Office to drop the charges against Almena and said “the settlements prove there were others at fault.”

“They failed to get a conviction the first time around; they are unlikely to be able to get it in a second trial. Derick has already served three years in jail and six months of house arrest without being convicted of anything,” Brito said. “It’s time for all this to be over. Another trial won’t bring anyone back, and it won’t bring about any justice.”

Before settling the civil case, attorneys for the city of Oakland filed several motions without success asking the civil court judge to dismiss the case against the city. Attorneys argued that the city is immune from liability from the fire, but Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman ruled that the case should go to trial.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. also reached a settlement with the plaintiffs in a confidential agreement. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are still in discussions with Ghost Ship landlord Chor Ng and her two children, Kai and Eva, who managed the property.

“It’s been a four-year battle against the city, PG&E and the Ngs to get justice for these families and though nothing will bring back their loved ones it gives them a sense of justice,” plaintiff attorney Mary Alexander said of the settlements.