Barn fire victims seeking damages

Staff Writer

By Kathy Baratta

Barn fire victims
seeking damages

MANALAPAN — A lawsuit has been filed against Gaitway Farm and several individuals in the aftermath of a Thanksgiving night fire that killed 20 horses at the Route 33 horse farm.

The suit was filed in state Superior Court in December by attorney Michael Schottland of Freehold, representing horse owner Sonya Smutz, trainer Steve Pothier and a commercial outfit, Mad Doctor Stable.

One person named as a defendant in the lawsuit is Robbie Siegelman, of Robert Siegelman Racing Stable Inc. Siegelman is a standardbred trainer who shared the barn that burned with Smutz. The lawsuit seeks punitive and compensatory damages.

Siegelman is a trainer for an outfit known as the Cheyenne Gang, who individually are Barry Rubenstein, Gordon Freeman, Eli Oxenhorn, David Sobol, Jeff Rubenstein, Larry Altman and Steve Wien, according to the suit filed by Schottland.

Cheyenne Gang lost 12 horses in the fire; Smutz lost five.

Schottland said that his clients are suing Cheyenne Gang and Siegelman because, he said, "we’re saying it was the actions of the Siegelman outfit that caused the fire" and because Siegelman was the Cheyenne Gang’s agent or representative at the shared barn.

The suit also names John Doe and Richard Roe and notes those are fictitious names.

Schottland said Gaitway Farm is named in the action because his clients believe the facility to be guilty of inadequate supervision. The attorney said he is seeking compensatory damages from both parties and punitive damages from the Cheyenne Gang.

Siegelman has said all along that groomsmen from his crew were gone from the premises by the morning of the fire. The blaze erupted late in the evening on Thanksgiving.

"I know we had nothing to do with that fire," Siegelman said. "We weren’t even there after 10 a.m. It’s a shame that some people respond to tragedy by right away saying, ‘Who can I sue?’

"You’re forced to hire lawyers just to defend yourself when people make crazy accusations. The whole thing is a tragedy and for the lawyers to thrive on the whole thing is another tragedy," he said.

Siegelman went on to say he thought the litigation "a disgrace and pretty sad. To even have to respond to this is sad."

Allegations of misconduct and fire code violations were denied by Gaitway Farm manager Timothy Hundertpfund prior to the filing of the litigation. Hundertpfund manages the facility for owner Kenneth R. Fisher.

Manalapan fire code official Richard Hogan, who is also Monmouth County’s deputy fire marshal, has said that over the course of several inspections at the farm no violations were found on the premises.

Barn space at the 200-acre farm is leased to individual tenants. In 1996 a fire broke out which was subsequently attributed to the improper use of the same type of submersible electric coil heater that officials determined caused the deadly Nov. 23 fire. No horses were killed in the 1996 fire.

In November, fire officials determined that a coil heater had been left in a plastic bucket filled with water. When the water evaporated, the heater burned through the plastic and ignited materials in the barn, according to fire officials.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office has been conducting an investigation of the fire to determine if criminal charges should be pursued.

Following the Thanksgiving 2000 fire, Gaitway Farm officials said the use of such equipment had been banned at the farm after the 1996 blaze.

Hogan said there is no ordinance that mandates a posting of rules and regulations or of equipment considered unsafe.

Siegelman said he is sure that "in the long run all the facts and the truth will come out." He said he is looking to the future and building the stable back up by acquiring more horses.

"That place represented years and years of work to us, plus the animals we lost is hard enough to get through and then to be reminded of it with this legal action — it just makes it a little bit sadder."

On a happier note, Siegelman said the one horse that was able to escape the fire, Net Back, a 4-year-old standardbred, has not only made a full recovery, but placed second in a qualifying race on Dec. 29 at the Meadowlands.

"By some miracle, there doesn’t seem to be any effects from the fire on Net Back," he said.

Hogan was asked if the time has come for a township ordinance requiring the public posting of banned and/or unsafe equipment.

He said a municipality cannot change fire codes and that any such change would have to come on a state level.

The state’s director of fire safety, William Kane, said he didn’t see any need for changes.

"I don’t think we need the state to be a watchdog for individual businesses," he said, adding that he thought the owner of a facility would post notice of any ban that might be in effect.

Hundertpfund said while there are "No Smoking" signs posted throughout the facility, he sees no reason to go beyond that.

Prior to the filing of the litigation, Hundertpfund said there was no posting on any of the premises regarding contraband or equipment and stated then that he saw no reason to change that policy.

"It all comes down to common sense and there comes a time when you have to be able to rely on people’s good sense," he said.

Hundertpfund said that since the Thanksgiving fire, he has held meetings with all of the people who rent space in the barns.

"I told them there is only so much I can do, that it’s up to them to keep the barns safe," he said. "Obviously we have things we have to address, but how far do you go? You expect people to know what’s safe to use and how to use it. I mean, should I post signs that say ‘No flame throwers allowed?’ "