Federal Court Allows Civil Rights Claim to Proceed Regarding Fatal Fire Case

In the case of McDonald v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, No. 24-CV-0057 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 18, 2025 Quinones Alejandro, J.), the court granted a Motion to Dismiss a state-created danger claim but denied civil rights claims asserted against the Philadelphia Housing Authority in a case involving a fatal fire.

According to Opinion, this civil rights action arose out of the deaths of twelve (12) individuals following a fire at a residential apartment building owned and managed by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Among the allegations was an allegation that the Defendant did not have any working smoke detectors in the building at the time, a fact that was allegedly known by certain employees of the Defendant. The Plaintiffs alleged that, because of the lack of working smoke detectors, the occupants of the building were not alerted to the fire until it was too late.

After reviewing the record before the court, the judge dismissed the Plaintiff’s claims of a state-created danger.

However, the court denied the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss the Plaintiffs’ claims of municipal liability under the civil rights act. The court rejected the Defendants’ argument that the civil rights claims should be dismissed on the grounds that the state-created danger claims were dismissed.

The court emphasized that the Plaintiffs’ civil rights claims were different from the state-created danger claims and had different requirements. Accordingly, the court found that the City’s sole reliance on the court’s dismissal of the state-created danger claims as the basis for its requested dismissal of the civil rights claims was misplaced.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.  The Court's companion Order can be viewed HERE.


Source – Article: “Judge Rejects City’s Efforts To Toss Liability Claims for Phila. Fatal Apartment Fire.” By Nicholas Malfitano of The Pennsylvania Law Weekly (Aug. 20, 2025).