A contractor who accidentally caused a fire at a Connecticut home that killed three girls and two of their grandparents on Christmas Day 2011 has agreed to settle part of a wrongful-death lawsuit by paying the children's father $5 million. Court records show that contractor Michael Borcina and his company settled Matthew Badger's lawsuit last month. The fire in Stamford killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger, and their maternal grandparents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson. The girls' mother, Madonna Badger, and Borcina were dating at the time and escaped the fire.
Authorities say the fire began after Borcina left a bag of fireplace ashes in a bin in a mudroom in the house. Borcina, who was renovating the $1.7 million Victorian home, was accused in the lawsuit of contributing with other defendants to make the house a "firetrap," including failing to install a smoke detection system during the construction. A lawyer representing Matthew Badger says the $5 million settlement is the first in the lawsuit, which remains pending against several other defendants, including the city of Stamford. Madonna Badger, a New York ad exec, is also suing Stamford, alleging city officials intentionally destroyed evidence when they demolished the home without notice shortly after the fire. (More Madonna Badger stories.)
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