Suit over toddler death in hot Portland apartment settled

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – An insurance company for a Portland apartment complex has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the mother of a 2-year-old girl who died in her bedroom after a heater malfunctioned.

In a lawsuit that had sought $8 million, Janna Walton sued Cathedral Park Investments and Gordon Properties in Multnomah County Circuit Court for the death of her daughter, Taqwa Dakhlalla.

Walton and her husband had put the girl in her crib and shut the bedroom door on Dec. 10, 2016, then discovered their overheated daughter the next morning, but it was too late.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Portland attorney Carl Rodrigues representing Cathedral Park Investments and Gordon Properties says his client’s insurance company settled without admission of liability.

Walton and Dakhlalla also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Vancouver-based heater manufacturer Cadet Manufacturing Co. That suit is pending.

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com