MOTHER OF CO2 POISONING VICTIM CALLS FOR CHANGE IN STATE LAW AS PREVENTATIVE ACTION

SOUTH BEND – The April 1 carbon monoxide poisoning incident at the Niles Quality Inn where one teen died and others injured has led to the filing of a lawsuit in Berrien County Trial Court. Several local youth were at the hotel that weekend for a spring break pool party.
Paula Watts, the mother of Bryan Douglas-Watts, the teen who died that day, met with the media late last week along with her lawyers, Ven Johnson and S. Jay Ahmad of the Johnson Law firm of Detroit.
Johnson filed the lawsuit on behalf of Watts and seven other plaintiffs including other injured teens and hotel guests May 12 against Quality Inn & Suites franchise owner Jayesh Patel and Choice Hotels International. The lawsuit asks for compensation of $75,000 or more for the plaintiffs.
Johnson reported he is still in the process of investigation the incident and looks forward to getting the final reports from the Niles Police Department and Niles Fire Department. He credited those two departments and other law enforcement personnel for risking their own lives in rushing into the hotel to try to save the youth.
It has been assigned to Berrien County Trial Judge Dennis Wiley. Wiley was recently transferred to the trial court’s civil division, exchanging places with Judge Sterling Schrock. Johnson said he expects more action in the case later this summer with briefs exchanged by both sides and subpoenas issued.
Johnson talked about both the specifics of the lawsuit and the need for action to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. He noted that Michigan state law requires new commercial buildings to have carbon monoxide detectors but haven’t put that requirement on older buildings.
He said he’d like to see federal legislation passed to make sure all commercial buildings like the Niles hotel are required to have carbon monoxide detectors. He noted that in the Midwest Indiana and Ohio have no laws, while Illinois has laws similar to Michigan. Wisconsin requires all commercial buildings to have detectors.
The lawsuit includes two counts of negligence for failing to properly maintain the indoor pool ventilation system and install carbon monoxide detectors and alarms.
For her part, Watts doesn’t want any other mother to go through what she has after her teenage son died of carbon monoxide poisoning during the April 1 party at the hotel. Other youth as well as hotel employees, guests and first responders were also treated.
It is believed that an improperly vented pool heater caused carbon monoxide levels to rise to dangerous levels. Officials said levels that day were as high as 800 parts per million, way above the safe level of 50 parts per million.
“What hurts the most is him not being here,” Watts said. “I can’t say that people don’t feel my pain, I have had other parents contact me who have lost children.”
“I think it’s only right to file the lawsuit,” she said. “If a carbon monoxide detector had been there, he would be here right now. I would have pictures of him graduating from high school and going to college.”
She said her son, who was 13 and a Niles student at the time of his death on April 1 at the Niles Quality Inn, loved his family and friends, loved music and loved life.
“He was funny, he loved making jokes,” she said. “He was kind to people he didn’t even know. For a 13 year old, he was very wise. He was very humble, he had a lot of things he wanted to do. He had a smile like a million bucks, everybody loved his spirit.”
Watts said it was her son’s dream to be a professional football player when he grew up. He played both football and basketball but loved football the most.
She said that all the thoughts and prayers from family, friends and even people she’s never met have kept her going. “”I go back and reread all the notes I’ve gotten,” she said. “I’ve talked to the woman at the hotel who found them that morning and the first responders who tried to revive him.”