ORANGE COUTY, Fla. – The landlord of a warehouse that burned during a deadly explosion and fire in Orange County is now filing suit against Magic in the Sky, LLC — the company storing the explosives inside the building — and Jacob Dell, the president of the company.
Nathan Properties, Inc. — the landlord — filed the suit against the fireworks company Friday in Orange County court.
The lawsuit claims Magic in the Sky breached its lease by bringing fireworks onto the premises without notifying the landlord of their presence. It further accused the Magic in the Sky company of “testing fireworks on the premises.”
“Tenant carelessly and negligently discharged the fireworks in such a manner and direction that the burning fragments would and did ignite the Premises,” the suit reads.
[RELATED: Find all of News 6′s coverage of the deadly warehouse fire]
A letter sent to Dell by the landlord’s attorney shows a demand for $2.6 million was made prior to the lawsuit being filed. The lawsuit does not specify a dollar amount for damages.
This is the fifth lawsuit filed following the deadly December 2022 fire that killed four people and left a fifth person badly hurt.
Read the full lawsuit below:
Nathan Properties is named as a defendant in the four other lawsuits — three of which were filed by the families of those killed in the explosion and fire and the fourth filed by the survivor of the blast.
An Orange County commissioner in December learned the business that was holding the fireworks had permits to store furniture in the warehouse, not fireworks.
The previous lawsuits also name SeaWorld as a defendant, because it was part of a joint venture with Magic in the Sky.
“Essentially, SeaWorld was using its joint ventures to prepare, store and use commercial fireworks which it regularly used on its Orlando amusement park premises, and turned a craven blind eye to how these inherently dangerous products were being stored and how they were being transported to SeaWorld,” one of the previous lawsuits alleged.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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