DAVENPORT, Iowa — Update: Two wrongful death lawsuits have been filed in addition to the original seven lawsuits consolidated in late September. All new lawsuits regarding the Davenport collapse are to be automatically consolidated moving forward, according to court documents.
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All seven lawsuits that were filed after the collapse at 324 Main St. in Davenport have been consolidated, according to a ruling filed on Sept. 26 from District Court Judge Mark Lawson. Many of the suits have the same defendants.
The plaintiffs for each lawsuit joined in the request to consolidate except Quanishia "Peach" and Lexus Berry. Peach had to have her leg amputated at the scene in order to be rescued.
They argued "that consolidation will slow down the prosecution of their case when they would prefer to expedite it," according to the recent ruling. In addition, the Berrys argued that Peach had sustained greater injury than some of the other plaintiffs and had prejudice.
The judge denied this request, however, stating that two of the lawsuits are for wrongful deaths, which he identified as much more serious charges.
The ruling states the following:
"While the Court acknowledges that some lawsuits seek compensation for property damages, it also notes that two of the cases on file are wrongful death claims which allege fatal injuries. Additionally, this concern is largely speculative. They will still have to pursue discovery to establish liability, a process which is likely to be lengthy in a case which involves establishing the cause of a building collapse. There is no guarantee their case would proceed any faster without consolidation."
Judge Lawson stated in the ruling that all seven cases have similar issues of law and fact and that consolidation "will promote judicial economy and will avoid the risk of inconsistent adjudications on pending and future motions." He added that "consolidation will reduce the discovery burden on the plaintiffs, as well as the discovery burden on the defendants who face multiple claims in multiple lawsuits."
In addition to the consolidation of all seven suits, Select Structural Engineering filed a counter-claim against building owner Andrew Wold after he filed suit against them on Sept. 2. The firm said in recent court documents that it denies "each and every allegation" from Wold.
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