SO SAD :(! OMG!
Please forgive me for being ignorant, aside from carbon monoxide detectors -— is there someone or something that can be held accountable for things like this? Should there be?
Accountable: the home owner(s) <— residents
Failure to maintain. Failure to study how to maintain.
Failures by PRIDE-FUL maintenance service companies and their employees who claim to be “experts” with “expertise.”
no
It happens.
As to liability, if it was a CO leak, if the property is rented the landlord perhaps, the manufacturer of the furnace maybe? The installer?
However, you would have to have some sort of reason they would be at fault. IE manufacturing defect, installed incorrectly, not properly maintained (if its a rental)
I mean you can sue in civil court just about anyone for anything, but to win, you need to have (at least in theory) some sort of proof that the people you are suing are at fault for the event occurring through negligence or error.
If you own a home with a natural gas furnace, this is always a risk, even if you maintain your furnace properly and it was installed properly etc etc.. Mechanical systems fail, they just do. Carbon Monoxide detectors should be in your home (SEVERAL OF THEM) if you have a gas furnace...
I don’t know if that’s what happened here, but just as a general rule, you should have them, just like you should have smoke detectors.