Executive Summary
- Two new wrongful death lawsuits were filed in Fall River Superior Court regarding the Gabriel House fire.
- Plaintiffs allege negligence by the facility owners and the fire inspection company, citing defective sprinklers.
- The July 2025 fire caused 10 deaths and is recorded as the deadliest in Massachusetts in over 40 years.
- Defendants have filed cross-claims blaming each other for the failure of the fire suppression system.
Two additional wrongful death lawsuits were filed last week in Fall River Superior Court on behalf of victims of the Gabriel House assisted living facility fire, which resulted in ten fatalities in July 2025. The complaints name the facility’s owners, Dennis and Karen Etzkorn, their company Gabriel Care LLC, and Fire Systems Inc., the contracted fire inspection vendor, as defendants.
The filings represent the estates of 78-year-old Robert King and 86-year-old Eleanor Willett, both of whom perished in the blaze. According to court documents, the plaintiffs allege significant negligence on the part of the operators and the inspection company. Specifically, the lawsuits claim that the facility’s sprinkler system was known to be defective and that the home suffered from inadequate management, staffing, supervision, and inspection protocols.
Robert King, a U.S. Navy and National Guard veteran, and Eleanor Willett, a former secretary for the Wareham Board of Health, were among the ten residents who died following the fire on July 13, 2025. The incident stands as the deadliest fire in Massachusetts in more than 40 years. In addition to the fatalities, dozens of other residents at the 261 Oliver St. facility sustained injuries.
These new filings join a growing list of litigation surrounding the tragedy, including at least seven personal injury lawsuits and one previous wrongful death suit. Legal filings indicate a contentious defense strategy is emerging; earlier in the week, the defendants filed cross-claims against one another, with the facility owners and the fire safety company each attributing the failure of the sprinkler system to the other party.
Civil Litigation Context
The accumulation of wrongful death and personal injury claims against Gabriel House and its vendors highlights the complex liability landscape often seen in mass-casualty facility disasters. As defendants initiate cross-claims regarding equipment maintenance and structural responsibility, the discovery phase of these lawsuits will likely focus heavily on the precise history of the sprinkler system’s inspection and the operational decisions made by management prior to the incident. The outcome of these civil actions could establish significant precedents regarding the duty of care owed by assisted living operators and third-party safety contractors under Massachusetts state law.
