Architect and Contractor in Christmas Day House Fire That Killed 5 Agree to Pay $1.2 Million
By Tiare Dunlap @tiaredunlap
updated September 1, 2016
Stamford, Connecticut
The architect and electrical contractor that worked on the home where five people, including three children, were killed in a Christmas Day fire have agreed to a $1.2 million settlement to the children's father.
Advertising executive Madonna Badger lost her daughters Lily, 9, and twins Sarah and Grace, 7, and her parents Lomer and Pauline Johnson, when the massive fire ripped through her Stamford, Connecticut home.
Badger, 51, and her then-boyfriend Michael Borcina, who was also the general contractor on the renovation, both escaped the home and survived.
The father of the three girls, Matthew Badger, initially filed suit against Borcina, the city of Stamford and four other contractors who worked on the house, claiming that shoddy construction work turned the home into a firetrap. He has settled the cases against all of the contractors for a sum over $7 million, according to Hartford Courant.
The deadly blaze began in the mudroom where ashes from the fireplace were placed. Borcina initially told police that he placed the ashes in the mudroom after sifting through them to make sure they were cold.
During a Today show appearance just months after the tragedy, Madonna Badger recalled watching Borcina sift through the ashes to make sure they weren't on fire before putting them into a brown bag in the mudroom.
Grace, Sarah and Lily Badger
John Moore / Getty
"I remember thinking to myself, 'I should put that [bag] outside,' " she said. "And then I remember thinking, 'No, I watched him put his hands through it.' "
Borcina later changed his story during a lawsuit deposition, claiming that Madonna Badger put the ashes in the mudroom and that he lied to authorities to protect her.
Madonna Badger (left) and Michael Borcina
Seth Wenig / AP
Matthew Badger settled the lawsuit against Borcina and his construction company for $5 million in June 2015. With the settlement of $1.2 million from the architect and electrical contractor, the city of Stamford has been left the sole defendant.
The lawsuit alleges that the city didn't properly inspect work being done at the home and didn't check to see whether Borcina had a valid state contractor's license. The lawsuit also claims that the city's demolition of the house without Madonna Badger's permission the day after the fire may have destroyed evidence.
According to court records, Matthew Badger has offered to settle the lawsuit against the city for $17 million.