Zimmermann family sues management firm, cites lack of security
The home in which Brittany Zimmermann and her
fiance, Jordan Gonnering, were living at the time she was stabbed
to death in April was lacking in security, and her boyfriend had
complained to the management firm about the lack of secure doors
and locks, according to a lawsuit filed in Dane County Circuit
Court by Zimmermann's parents.
The security issue was among new details
revealed in court records discussed in Thursday's
proceedings.
The suit names only the Wisconsin Management
Company Inc. and its insurer, General Casualty, as defendants,
unlike an earlier federal lawsuit which named Dane County and the
911 Center as defendants. The federal suit -- filed by Brittany's
parents, Jean and Kevin of Marshfield -- was withdrawn by the
family's lawyer, Robert Elliott of Milwaukee.
A brief hearing was held Thursday in front of Dane County Circuit Court Judge William Hanrahan in which attorneys for the city, county and University of Wisconsin tried to get Hanrahan to quash subpoenas for various law enforcement officials and city and county officials. Elliott seeks to get information on the police investigation into the as-yet unsolved murder and subsequent dealings with a controversial 911 call from Zimmermann's phone at about the time she was killed.
Hanrahan, however, did not rule on any issues, saying had to recuse himself from the case because his brother, Thomas Hanrahan, is the support services manager for emergency communications in Dane County and also the record custodian for the department.
"I'm erring on the side of caution," Hanrahan said.
The lawsuit, filed in June, will now be assigned to another judge.
The suit says Zimmermann, 21, was at home around noon on April 2, because Wisconsin Management was sending over a person interested in subleasing the apartment. Zimmermann and Gonnering had a lease lasting until August of 2009, the suit says, but wanted to move out when they graduated from the University of Wisconsin.
But at about that time an intruder kicked in the door to the building, entered Zimmermann's apartment through an apparently unlocked door which was not damaged, then kicked in the door to her bedroom, court documents contend. The doors to the building and apartment -- as well as Zimmermann's bedroom -- were cheap, hollow doors with cheap locks, the suit says.
"As a result of such inadequate security," the suit says, "an intruder gained entry to the premises ... and assaulted and ultimately murdered her." The suit does not say whether the assault was sexual in nature and police have not released those details.
In answering a round of written questions put to them by lawyers for the Wisconsin Management Company, Zimmermann's parents, Kevin and Jean, said the "building rented to our daughter at 517 W. Doty St., was in terrible, uninhabitable condition and very poorly maintained throughout the time our daughter lived there."
Gonnering complained to Wisconsin Management about the lack of secure doors and locks, the Zimmermanns said.
The suit says Wisconsin Management "knowingly failed to provide adequate security to residents," of the building, and said because of that "and its failure to make such premises safe," the company "caused severe and grievous physical and emotional injury and distress to Brittany Zimmermann and caused her death."
The suit also says the West Doty Street area is known to Wisconsin Management and law enforcement as being "in a part of the city of Madison known to be frequented by vagrants, panhandlers and criminals who preyed upon, harassed, and sought to victimize residents in that area," and should have led to better security.
The suit asks for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Wisconsin Management denies it had any negligence in the murder, and it bears no liability in Zimmermann's death.
The management company also says the suit is deficient because it fails to name other parties that may be responsible. While the management company names no names, Dane County has come under heavy fire from what some label as a mishandling of a 911 call from Zimmermann's cell phone at about the time she was killed.
The call taker heard nothing on the phone except some rustling sounds, asked questions of the caller, and hung up when she got no response, her union representatives have said. Police have criticized the call taker for not calling Zimmermann back. The county has not released the tape of that call.
But the storm of criticism which followed has led to the resignation of 911 director Joe Norwick, effective Sept. 19, and has caused County Executive Kathleen Falk to include money in the county's budget for improvements at the center.
As part of the suit, Elliott has issued subpoenas to Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Falk, and a host of law enforcement officials including Madison Police Chief Noble Wray and wants them to bring all records related to the murder to deposition sessions.
Lawyers for all of those subpoenaed were expected to argue at Thursday's hearing that the subpoenas should be quashed because divulging details of the investigation would harm the effort to arrest the killer.
Madison Police Capt. Carl Gloede, the department's records custodian, said in an affidavit in support of quashing the subpoenas that police reports on the murder ran to 2,534 pages as of Sept. 4.
Dane County assistant corporation counsel Gary Rehfeldt said Elliott was "trying to use the discovery process as an end run around the open records denials for essentially a fishing expedition."
The city and county have both declined to release repeated requests for information about the murder to Elliott and to media.
In court Thursday, assistant city attorney Roger Allen asked Hanrahan to seal the court records which contain some information not-before released, but Hanrahan said the law did not allow for that, and in any case, he could not make a ruling because he is stepping down from the case.
File photo
The parents of Brittany Zimmermann, found stabbed to death in her West Doty Street home, filed a suit with the management company, claiming her fiance contacted Wisconsin Management about the apartment's doors and locks.
