Couple sues landlord after pets 'boiled to death' when radiator pipe bursts

An Ottawa couple is suing a former landlord after a hot water pipe burst in the pair's apartment andfilledtheclosed bedroom with searing steam they say"boiled" their pets to death, but Minto has filed a counterclaim seeking damages of its own.

Samantha Testa andJake Barnabewereliving in a Minto-owned lowrise apartment building on Deerfield Drive when thepipe burst on Dec. 8, 2018. The couple had been out for breakfast and came home to find firefighters in their steam-filled apartment, where theirdogGambitand catLion-Olay dead on thefloor.

There wereclaw marks near the bedroomdoor where she believes the pets had tried to escape, Testa said.

They knew they had to get out, and they couldn't.- Samantha Testa

"Because our bedroom door was closed, our animals essentially were trappedand boiled to death," she said."They knew they had to get out, and they couldn't."

Testa said the pipe that burst was connected to a radiator underneath their bedroom window. The apartment was flooded, ruining about80 per cent of their belongings, but Testasaid losing their beloved pets was the worst part.

"Had it honestly just been our stuff, I think it would have been much less traumatic. Butwhen we walked in, the only thing I remember seeing now is my animals on the floor," Testa recalled.

"I felt like I let them down because we could have been home, and instead we chose to go out to have breakfast, and had we not made that decisionwe probably could have saved their lives."

Couple seek $25K

The couple moved out the same day and stayed with Testa's parents for a time before buying a new house.

Their tenants' insurance covered their moving costs, but the couple isnow seeking$25,000 fromMinto the maximum allowed in Ontario small claims court for two months rentplus"general, special, exemplary and punitive damages."

The lawsuit claims the pipe that burst was broken, but in its statement of defence and counterclaim for water damage to the couple's apartment and two others, Minto denies that.

In the court documents, the landlord claims a plumber found"there was a pane of glass not installed in the bedroom window and that there was a draft coming from the location of the missing window pane." The plumber"determined that the pipe had burst because it froze."

The company is seeking $9,137.53 plus interest and court costs for damageto walls, ceilings, baseboards and trim.

Minto offers condolences

Testa said she and her husband had only been able to replace one window pane after removing their air conditioner at the end of summer.

The temperature in Ottawa the night before the pipe burst reached a low of19.6 C, according to data from Environment Canada that was recorded at theMacdonaldCartier International Airport. Nevertheless,Testa saidthe bedroom didn't feel cold that morning, and wonders how a hot water pipe could have frozen when the room was still acomfortable temperature.

Minto would not discuss those details while the couple's claim is before the courts, but in a statement to CBC, senior vice-president George Van Notensaid:"At Minto Apartments, the safety and security of our residents and their pets is our top priority. We recognize how difficult the death of a pet is, and extend our sincere condolences to this family for their loss."

Testa, who said she now becomes anxious whenever she hears a fire truck siren,believes she and her husbanddeservecompensation for their mental anguish.

The couple's lawsuit also raises the possibility of what might havehappened had they been in the nearby bed when the pipe burst.

"The pipe was located on the wife's side of the bed which could have been deadly for her had it explode[ed]," thelawsuit states.

Testa said: "Had we been home, had I slept in, had it happened earlier, that could have been us. It could have been me. I sleep right beside the pipe. For all I know, I could have been burned, or worse."

In a separate lawsuit, Testa is suingMinto after she claims she tripped on her building's staircase and injured her leg.

'It felt to me like they were suffering'

5 years ago

Duration 1:40

Samantha Testa says she and her partner were out for breakfast last year when a pipe burst in their apartment, killing the couple's two pets.

Counterclaims uncommon

Landlords are responsible for the upkeep of any infrastructure, including pipes, said Gilles LeVasseur, a professor of business and law at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants.

Tenants can be found liable if they leave a window open and a pipe freezes, which can happen in older homes, he said.

But he said it's uncommon for landlords to come after tenants for those costs, because theyhave to demonstrate that the tenant was negligent and careless, and mustprove the damages and repair costs.

"A lot of landlords will say, 'Well, it's part of the business,' and if it's a big damage, that's called insurance," LeVasseursaid.

Since Gambit and Lion-O, Testa and her husband haveadopted a newrescue puppy, Cooper.

"Having him love us and us being able to pour our love back into another animal who needed it, is exactly what we needed," Testa said.