The families of three fallen Wilmington firefighters and survivors have lost their final appeal in a civil lawsuit arising from the 2016 Canby Park rowhome fire that killed three city firefighters and injured three others.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that plaintiffs failed to allege a deprivation of a constitutional right after a District Court noted they failed to allege a "cognizable claim" under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Plaintiffs had made three substantive due process claims, including state-created danger and a shocks the conscience claim.
Throughout the case, plaintiffs' attorney Tom Neuberger had claimed that the controversial use of rolling bypass, or the conditional closure of an engine on a rotating basis, led to a delay of water to the scene of the fire that caused the deaths of three firefighters--Lt. Chris Leach and senior firefighters Ardy hope and Jerry Fickes. Firefighter Brad Speakman, Senior Firefighter Terry Tate and Lt. John Cawthray were also injured in the fire.