Relatives of 2 Fallen South Carolina Firefighters Sue Charleston Businesses

Two more families of Charleston, S.C. firefighters killed in last year’s Sofa Super Store blaze sued the store, furniture manufacturers and other companies.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reported May 14 the wrongful death lawsuits accuse the companies of negligence. Lauren Mulkey, widow of Capt. Louis Mulkey, and Raymond Cofield Jr., father-in-law of Capt. Mike Benke, filed the lawsuits May 13.

Those men and seven other firefighters died in the furniture store fire June 18, 2007. It was the nation’s greatest loss of firefighters since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The families of three other firefighters have filed similar lawsuits.

Latest Comments

• June 6, 2008 at 10:13 am

  Firefighter Wife says:

  I am appalled by some of the comments posted in this post. Yes, firefighters know the risk and they do it willingly. They also do it severely underpaid and are forced to work... read more
• May 22, 2008 at 5:29 am

  johnny says:

  The fallen firefighters are heros and were great people, too bad their money grubbing pig families have sullied these firefighters reputations with lawsuits and greed.
• May 17, 2008 at 5:52 am

  gary says:

  I am confused, which may not be a difficult thing. But this is their job - to fight fires. No one wants their business to burn down and you cannot possibly plan for every scen... read more