Winters Hotel Fire Victims Can Launch a Class-Action Lawsuit

Winters Hotel residents have won the right to launch a class-action lawsuit over a 2022 fire in the Vancouver single-room occupancy hotel that killed two residents and displaced at least 71 tenants.

The B.C. Supreme Court approved the lawsuit against social housing provider Atira, the City of Vancouver, BC Housing and the owner of the Winters Hotel on Thursday.

The lawsuit was filed on April 11, 2023, but had to be approved by a judge to proceed as a class action.

The Winters Hotel was a century-old SRO located at Water and Abbott streets in Gastown that burned on April 11, 2022. It was owned by Peter Plett and operated as supportive housing for low-income people by Atira Property Management, with funding from BC Housing.

A coroner’s inquest held in January established that staff at Atira Property Management had not complied with an order from the fire department to immediately reset alarms and sprinklers after a previous fire on April 8. The fire extinguishers that had been used to fight the April 8 fire were also not refilled, leaving no warning or way to fight the flames when the second fire started.

The inquest also heard that there was no plan in place to alert tenant Dennis Guay, who was hard of hearing. Guay, 53, and Mary Ann Garlow, 68, both died in the April 11 fire.

The inquest heard testimony about other safety gaps, including inadequate or no fire safety training for staff and a missing fire safety plan that Atira said had been destroyed in the April 11 fire. The fire services company contracted for the Winters Hotel said a plan had never been filed with them or the city.

The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Jamie Thornback of Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman LLP, alleged that the poverty of the Winters Hotel tenants played a part in the lack of protection from fire.

Jennifer Hansma is the lead plaintiff in the class action. Hansma lost her cat and belongings when she woke to find her room filled with black smoke and fled from the fire. She continues to suffer from psychological injuries, according to the statement of claim filed on April 11, 2023.

Justice Francesca Marzani ruled the class action can proceed.

Tenants and guests will now be notified of the class action and have the option to opt out of the lawsuit. The ruling requires Atira to provide Hansma’s legal team with any contact information the company has for people who were tenants or guests at the Winters at the time of the fire.

The class action seeks unspecified damages for the tenants who lost all their belongings or were injured and traumatized by the fire.

Family members or dependants of residents or guests who died as a direct or indirect result of the fire can also join the class action.

The Tyee’s reporting on the Winters Hotel fire led to a coroner’s inquest.

Other Tyee reporting highlighted problems in buildings run by Atira and revealed conflict of interest violations that led to the resignations of the CEO of BC Housing and the CEO of Atira.