"Families of children killed in Villaggio fire file lawsuits in US, Qatar", 1 Jun 2015

The parents of 13 children and one nursery teacher who died in the 2012 Villaggio fire have filed multi-million dollar lawsuits against the mall’s architects, developers, consultants and management firm, in addition to several other companies based in the US and Qatar. The civil suits were filed on Thursday, May 28…with the Los Angeles Superior Court in California, and Qatar’s court of first instance. The Qatar suit is calling for QR280 million (approximately $77 million) in compensation and damages for each of the victims…The US lawsuit argues that the companies being sued “engaged in willful, wanton and reckless disregard” for the lives and safety of those who died in the fire…The Qatar suit argues that “no one would have died had everyone carried out their duty” and that the deaths happened because of “human mistakes resulting from laziness, negligence and the desire to cut corners and save expenses”…[Refers to Business Trading Company (BTC), F+A, Gympanzee Nursery, Hempel, International for Decorations and Building, Intertech Group, Jotun, Sun and Sands Sports Qatar, Voltas Qatar, Qatari Company for Real Estate and Commercial Projects, Qatari Engineer and Assistants Company, White Young]