A man was killed by a carbon monoxide leak. Now, Columbia Housing will pay his family $2M

The Columbia Housing Authority has agreed to pay $2 million to the family of a man who died from a carbon monoxide leak at the former Allen Benedict Court public housing complex that led to the evacuation and eventual demolition of the property.

The Housing Authority agreed to settle a wrongful death suit brought by the man’s family after a years-long court battle.

After legal fees and other expenses are taken out, the family of Calvin Witherspoon Jr. will receive $1,094,479, according to court documents.

In January 2019, two men living in separate apartments at Allen Benedict Court were poisoned to death by carbon monoxide from a faulty furnace at the Columbia Housing Authority property, fire inspections found.

Witherspoon, 61, was one of two men who died from carbon monoxide poisoning during the 2019 leak. His daughter, Danielle Washington, filed the wrongful death civil lawsuit in 2021. A second tenant, Derrick Roper, also died from the January 2019 gas leak.

When the gas was discovered, all 206 housing units were evacuated, leaving more than 400 people to find new housing. The Housing Authority demolished Allen Benedict Court in 2021.

Washington’s lawsuit alleged that the Housing Authority must have known of the “decrepit and dangerous” conditions at Allen Benedict Court, in part because the institution routinely applied for federal grants to repair the complex. The complex was built in 1940. Before it was demolished, it was one of the oldest standing public housing complexes in the U.S.

Washington’s suit also claimed that the Housing Authority did not inspect the 30-year-old furnace that ultimately caused the carbon monoxide leak.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson dismissed Washington’s suit in 2021, ruling that the claims didn’t rise to a constitutional violation and were not fit for federal court. But Washington’s attorney Richard Hricik appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, and in January 2023, the appeals court overruled Anderson’s finding and reinstated the wrongful death suit.

Writing for the three-judge panel, Fourth Circuit Judge James Wynn ruled at the time that Witherspoon’s death was a result of “deliberate indifference.”

“Unlike cases involving emergency, split-second decisions, Plaintiff alleges years of choices by the Housing Authority that led to the tragic circumstances of this case,” the appeals court ruled, finding that the Housing Authority would have received multiple complaints about conditions at Allen Benedict Court during the seven years Witherspoon lived there. “Yet the Housing Authority chose not to respond to these complaints, or at most took only half-measures to resolve them,” the court said.

The appeals court sent Washington’s case back to Judge Anderson in District Court. Now, the Housing Authority and Washington have agreed to settle the case. The Housing Authority was represented by attorney Charles Turner.

The settlement hearing was before Judge Anderson Monday. After Anderson approved the settlement, Washington quietly began to cry.

Washington did not speak to reporters after the settlement hearing, but is a statement shared by her attorney she said, “I can finally grieve knowing that I got some form of justice for my father and that he can rest in peace.”

The Housing Authority will pay $1.6 million of the settlement, and the Housing Authority’s insurance company will pay $400,000, according to the statement from Hricik.

After residents were evacuated in 2019, Columbia fire officials inspected the property and found “severe and lethal” levels of the toxic gas in several Allen Benedict Court apartments.

More than 60 units had heightened levels of hazardous gases, according to later inspections. Inspectors also found mold, electrical and structural problems and other safety concerns.

No criminal charges were filed after the deaths.

“What has happened here in Allen Benedict Court is indeed a tragedy,” 5th Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson said at the time. “The decision not to pursue criminal charges in general sessions court is not intended to be a commentary, either directly or indirectly, on civil liability. It’s not meant to be a comment on whether or not an agency can be charged (in civil court).”

In addition to the wrongful death suit filed by Washington, former residents of Allen Benedict Court have also attempted to pursue a class action lawsuit against the Housing Authority.

Richland County Circuit Court Judge Jocelyn Newman denied the request for a class action suit in July, but local attorney David Proffitt is still pursuing individual suits against the institution.