BIDDEFORD, Maine — The families of two Biddeford men who died trapped in a downtown apartment building fire in 2014 have reached settlements in civil suits against the landlord.
Michael Moore, 23, and his friend and roommate James Ford, 21, were killed by a fire that was set at 35 Main St. on Sept. 18, 2014.
The lawsuits have been settled for an undisclosed amount, according to a news release from the law firm Berman & Simmons, which represented the families of the victims.
Dylan Collins, 20, has been charged with starting a fire in a stairwell of the apartment building where Moore and Ford rented a third-floor unit.
Collins was arrested on Nov. 7, 2014, and charged with two counts of depraved indifference murder and two counts of arson. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in December 2014. The case remains ongoing, and no trial date has been set, according to the Attorney General’s office.
Collins’ mother, Donna Pitcher, called police with concerns over her son’s mental health both before and after the fire, Biddeford Police told the Journal Tribune in November 2014.
Ford died of complications from smoke inhalation on Oct. 14, 2014, after spending 26 days in the hospital, while Moore died from the same cause a day after the fire, according to court documents.
The civil suit, which was filed in 2015, alleged that Nielsen Clark, the landlord who purchased the multi-unit building in 1992, rented the space to Ford and Moore despite the fact that it only had one exit — a minimum of two are required — and lacked a working fire alarm.
The Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office determined that 27 National Fire Protection Association code violations in the building “significantly contributed” to the young men’s deaths, according to court documents.
The lawsuit stated Ford and Moore were awake and alert when they discovered the fire, suggesting they could have survived given proper notice by a working fire alarm and a suitable escape route.
Attorney Michael Bigos of Berman & Simmons said in a statement that the lawsuits were about bringing justice for the families of Moore and Ford, but there was also a larger goal.
“We wanted to improve the housing safety of all people in Maine by bringing code compliance into the public spotlight. Tenants deserve safe housing and landlords who comply with fire and building codes, plus adequate oversight by towns and cities,” Bigos said in the statement. “By shining a light on flaws in the system, we achieved that goal.”