Three Women Died in a 103-Degree Senior Apartment. Their Families Won $16 Million.

On May 14, 2022, three women who lived at the James Sneider Apartments, a senior residential high-rise at 7450 North Rogers Avenue in Rogers Park, were found unresponsive in their units. Janice Reed was 68. Gwendolyn Osborne was 72. Delores McNeely was 76. The Cook County medical examiner ruled that all three died from excessive environmental heat exposure.

Outdoor temperatures had climbed above 90 degrees in the days before the deaths. Inside the building, conditions were far worse. When McNeely was discovered, a thermometer in her apartment read 103 degrees. Reed's family had called ahead with complaints, but staff told her the building could not shut off the heat until June 1 under city ordinance. Building management for Gateway Apartments Ltd. and Hispanic Housing Development Corp. kept the heating system running, misreading the ordinance, which required minimum indoor temperatures be maintained in winter months, not that heat had to remain on through June 1 regardless of conditions.

The lawsuits filed on behalf of all three families alleged that management's refusal to disable the heat and turn on air conditioning directly caused the deaths, which were preventable. Attorney Larry Rogers Jr. of Power Rogers LLP represented the family of Janice Reed.

'Had the defendants used common sense and turned the heat off and the air conditioning on, these ladies would not have died,' Rogers Jr. said.

In December 2022, Gateway Apartments Ltd. and Hispanic Housing Development Corp. agreed to a $16 million settlement, divided equally among the three families. The agreement was publicly announced in January 2023. No appeal or reduction of the settlement has been reported.

In the aftermath of the deaths, Chicago's City Council approved new ordinances requiring senior residential buildings to provide cooling centers when the heat index reaches 80 degrees.