The sons of a couple found dead in their Rountree home last year filed suit this past week against DeLong Plumbing Two Inc. alleging wrongful death.
The petition filed April 14 claims the company that does business as DeLong Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning was negligent and failed to alert husband and wife Dwaine and Judith Crigger that flue gas had leaked multiple times from a water heater the company installed in 2000. The plaintiffs, Jerod and Brian Crigger, allege in the suit that negligence led to the death of their parents via carbon monoxide poisoning. Flue gas is a mixture resulting from combustion and other reactions in a furnace that passes through a pipe called a flue.
“As a direct and proximate result of the occurrence described herein, decedents sustained injuries and endured physical pain and suffering and mental and emotional anguish prior to their death, for which plaintiffs seek damages,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiffs have forever lost the services, love, care, comfort, society, companionship, instruction, guidance, counsel, training and support, including financial support and income, of decedents and will incur such losses in the future.”
The suit claims Jerod and Brian Crigger have suffered damages in excess of $25,000. They’re seeking recovery of all damages under Missouri’s wrongful death statute, as well as additional damages the suit claims their parents would have been entitled to had they lived.
The bodies of Dwaine and Judith Crigger were found in the home by Springfield Police officers on July 8, 2016, according to the petition. Dwaine retired in 2011 as an art teacher at Missouri State University, and Judith was an elementary school teacher before staying at home to raise her children, according to the
couple’s obituary.
Officials with DeLong Plumbing declined to comment this morning. The Criggers are represented by attorneys Randy Reichard and Megan Creson of Lowther Johnson Attorneys at Law LLC, according to court documents.
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