KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — After lawsuits filed by survivors of the 2016 Sevier County wildfires were dismissed last month a new filing is asking a federal judge to vacate the decision.
Documents filed Wednesday aim to prove U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer’s decision to dismiss the lawsuits was flawed.
Greer wrote in the Feb. 28 dismissal that federal attorneys didn’t have subject matter jurisdiction over the lawsuits filed by individuals and the individual plaintiffs made a mistake by not including a “failure to warn” provision in their original complaints.
The survivors’ lawyers claim they have discovered evidence that notice was given to the federal government ahead of time.
Greer also wrote in his decision that specific pieces of information were missing from the forms submitted to claim damage, injury or death. Lawyers representing the victims claim the government originally told them these forms were “sufficient” as they were submitted.
One of the lawsuits that was dismissed was filed by Michael B. Reed, whose wife and daughters died in the wildfires. Also dismissed were lawsuits filed by Brittany N. Hyre Anculle, Brittany Adkins, James Carl Vance, Jackie Sue Barnes, and Paul Abbott.
Lawsuits filed by American Reliable Insurance Company, State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, United Services Automobile Association, Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, and Auto-Owners Insurance Company were allowed to continue and will be consolidated, according to Greer’s opinion last month.
Fourteen people died in the 2016 Gatlinburg wildfires. More than 17,000 acres were burned in the blaze and more than 2,400 buildings were destroyed.