Judge moves forward with wrongful death suit in Christmas fire
A judge on Thursday declined to dismiss a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over a 2011 fire that killed five people in Stamford after a key person in the case resurfaced. Matthew Badger, whose children
News 12 Staff
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Jul 1, 2016, 1:45 AM
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Updated 2,863 days ago
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A judge on Thursday declined to dismiss a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over a 2011 fire that killed five people in Stamford after a key person in the case resurfaced.
Matthew Badger, whose children died in the fire, sued both the city of Stamford and Michael Borcina, a contractor who was dating the children's mother at the time.
The city was trying to get the case dismissed because Borcina, who at one point took responsibility for the fire, had reportedly disappeared.
Borcina already settled with Badger for $5 million, but Stamford attorneys have demanded some of his records related to the case. They say they've been seeking the records for around 18 months.
Borcina resurfaced Thursday when his lawyer said he never disappeared, and that he has agreed to cooperate fully with the case.
The fire happened on Christmas Day in 2011. The victims were three children and their two grandparents.
Borcina initially said that he left some hot embers in a mud room in the house, which was under renovation at the time. He later retracted that story and shifted the blame to the children's mother.
The judge did not release many details of the agreement the parties reached on Thursday, but he did rule that the case can move forward against the city of Stamford and several subcontractors.
