ROCKLAND — Six tenants of a Rockland apartment building who lost their homes and personal property in an early morning fire almost one year ago, have filed a lawsuit against the landlords claiming negligence and mistreatment of abandoned property.

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 14 in Knox County Superior Court against the landlords Dona Bergen and Erik Nelson, both of Tenants Harbor.

Attorney Gregory Snow, of South Thomaston, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the six former tenants Scott Brinckerhoff, Leslie Vangel, Mark Libby, Robert Kliewer, Brian Kliewer, and Alison Hill.

The defendants have not yet filed a response in court to the suit. 

The lawsuit is based on a fire that occurred during the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2021, at a six-unit apartment building at 666 Main St. in Rockland. The residents were able to escape the burning structure without any injuries.

The building had previously sustained a fire in 2016 and subsequently was cited by the Rockland code enforcement officer for a number of code violations, including some electrical in nature and some of those involving the removal of old knob-and-tube wiring, according to the lawsuit.

Following the January 2021 fire, the state fire marshal determined that the cause was electrical in nature.

The suit claims that Nelson told three tenants that he had done a significant amount of the wiring in the building himself. Whether Nelson is a licensed electrician still has to be determined.

The January 2021 investigation by the state fire marshal concluded that the fire started in the ceiling of Vangel’s apartment and burst through a wall in Brinckerhoff’s apartment, a floor above and on the opposite side of the building, according to the lawsuit.

Due to the age of the building, the heating system was supplemented by a number of Rinnai space heaters, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims that Vangel complained to Nelson that the Rinnai heater in her apartment was malfunctioning and overheating. Additionally, immediately after the fire, and before the inspection by the fire marshal, Nelson deliberately removed the Rinnai heater in one of the apartments and allegedly disposed of it.

The tenants are seeking an award of compensatory damages, with the amount to be determined by the court, including but not limited to lost property, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life and other non-pecuniary losses such as loss of sleep, lost wages and compensatory damages for great humiliation, embarrassment and suffering, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs also claim that they have been deprived of the benefit of living premises for a period of time.

“Nelson was present at the fire and did nothing to alleviate the condition of the plaintiffs who were left to find their own shelter from the winter weather,” the lawsuit states.

After the fire, the lawsuit claims Nelson ignored state law and mandates regarding abandoned property left behind by tenants, as in the case of a fire, and impounded one of the tenant’s vehicles without authority and repeatedly harassed the tenants by telephone with demands that they remove their property at their own expense by various “spurious deadlines” he allegedly claimed were required by law, according to the lawsuit.

Sarah Shepherd can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com