Oakland Pays $32.7 Million to Settle Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire Lawsuits
Won by Mary Alexander & Associates.
Mary Alexander served as lead plaintiffs' counsel representing 13 of the victim families in litigation against the City of Oakland over the December 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire, which killed 36 people, securing a $32.7 million settlement covering 32 families and a survivor.
What happened
On December 2, 2016, a fire broke out during an electronic music party inside the Ghost Ship, an illegally converted warehouse in Oakland's Fruitvale district. The 10,000-square-foot building had no sprinklers and no clearly marked exits. Within minutes, 36 people were dead. It was the deadliest fire in Oakland's history.
Survivors and families of the deceased sued the City of Oakland, arguing that city inspectors and code-enforcement officials had received multiple complaints about the warehouse in the years before the fire and had failed to act. Records showed the Oakland Police and Fire departments had prior contacts with the building. The city maintained it was not legally responsible for the deaths.
Mary Alexander took on the lead plaintiffs' counsel role representing 13 victim families. A second plaintiffs' attorney, Paul Matiasic, represented four additional families. Together, their clients sought to hold the city accountable for the failures of its inspection and enforcement system.
The city's total insurance coverage was $22 million. Despite that cap, Oakland agreed to pay $32.7 million to resolve the claims of families representing 32 of the 36 people who died, along with survivor Sam Maxwell, who sustained lifelong injuries. Of the total, $23.5 million went to the families of the deceased victims and $9.2 million to Maxwell.
The settlement was announced on July 16, 2020, more than three and a half years after the fire. Alexander told reporters: "They say they're not taking responsibility but they truly are by paying this settlement." The city said it settled based on a cost-benefit analysis, not an admission of liability.
Separate criminal proceedings against the warehouse's master tenant, Derick Almena, continued after the settlement. A 2019 trial had ended in a deadlocked jury. Co-defendant Max Harris was acquitted. Twelve additional personal injury claims from other survivors remained unresolved at the time the wrongful-death settlement was announced.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.