The owners of a rental home in the Hamptons and the rental website Homeaway.com misrepresented a rental as insurance, claims a federal lawsuit filed this week by the family of two women who died in a fire last summer.
The lawsuit claims the Sag Harbor, New York, home had “worthless casings of non-functioning alarms” despite an email from HomeAway, which said it had working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and a fire extinguisher. fires, the New York Post reported.
Jillian Wiener, 21, and her sister Lindsay Wiener, 19, were killed when a house fire broke out at 3 a.m. on Aug. 3.
“Instead of fond memories of a week’s vacation on the eastern end of Long Island, the Wiener family is left with a nightmare they can’t wake up from,” the lawsuit says.
MARYLAND SISTERS WERE IN HAMPTONS HOUSE FIRE, CAUSE REMAINS UNKNOWN
The family rented the $1.8 million home for a week in August before the 3 a.m. fire.
(Southampton City Police)
The family had used the home’s outdoor kitchen, which had never been inspected, according to the lawsuit. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were also not working, according to court reports.
The sisters were vacationing at the house with their parents and brother, who made it out of the house alive.
HOUSE EXPLODES IN BALTIMORE LEAVING THREE PEOPLE IN SERIOUS CONDITION
The investigation into the cause of the fire is still ongoing, but Southampton’s public safety and emergency management administrator said in late August that it likely started in the outdoor kitchen, according to the East Hampton Star. Homeowners face dozens of violations of the code in the city of Southampton.
The $1.8 million home had been rented by the Wiener family for the week for $8,000.
“This is the most reckless situation you can find,” the family’s attorney, Andrés Alonso, said, the Post reported. “This didn’t have to happen and it happened because everyone decided they were going to cut corners.”
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VRBO, the owner of HomeAway, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
