The family of Dwight Howard‘s baby momma is suing an apartment rental company in Calabasas, California after claiming that water leaking from a broken toilet caused her death back in late March of 2020.
According to legal documents, the NBA star’s former partner Melissa Rios — with whom he had son David — is the focus of the lawsuit filed by her family. The legal filing claims the company ASN Calabasas is responsible for dangerous plumbing issues inside an apartment that allegedly contributed to Rios’ death.
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Per The Blast, the suit alleges that persistent plumbing issue inside Rios’ apartment’s bathroom “caused and contributed to the death” of the woman, who reportedly slipped and fell. Claiming the company is responsible for the leaky plumbing issues within the rental unit, the lawsuit reads:
“These factors include but are not limited to, the following: a dangerously broken and/or deteriorating toilet and/or hose and/or a supply line or similar toilet plumbing component that was not properly installed, maintained, cleaned and/or protected at said property causing [Melissa’] to sustain injuries.”
And it goes on, explicitly claiming that the broken toilet in the rental unit directly led to the tragedy:
“[The company] is responsible given the fact that she died as a result of the injuries received when she slipped and fell on water and/or similar substance leaking and/or leaking or seeping.”
As The Blast notes, the lawsuit is surprising, because prior reports of Melissa’s death had claimed she died as a result of an epileptic seizure. Nevertheless, a copy of her death certificate is attached to the lawsuit, and it lists the cause of her death as “deferred.”
Rios was 31 years old when she passed away in the apartment on March 27, 2020. The former couple’s son, David, was six years old at the time. Horrifically, the outlet reports David was also in the apartment at the time of Rios’ death.
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In a mid-May press conference with basketball reporters, the Los Angeles Lakers star spoke about some of the difficulties he and David faced after Rios’ passing, saying:
“I’ve had some things happen in my personal life that has been difficult to really handle. My son’s mom, she had passed away a month and a half ago and it’s extremely difficult for me to try to understand how to talk to my son, who’s 6 years old, just about the whole situation. Something I’ve never experienced. So I wouldn’t know how to talk to my son about it. So just with him being here and stuff like that, it’s kind of given me some extra life. But I also try to think about how to cope with losing somebody like that.”
So sad.
[Image via Dwight Howard/Instagram]
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