Scarefest Wrongful Death Case

The father of a fifteen-year-old girl is blaming a St. Louis haunted house for her death. Now he's filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the operators of "The Darkness" seeking damages. News Channel 5's Ann Rubin is live in Soulard where the haunted house sets up shop each year. Ann?

Ann Rubin: Well, according to the lawsuit the haunted house failed to warn people with respiratory problems about the existence of the fog inside. The operators of the haunted house say that's not true, they had three ten foot signs doing exactly that. Now, fifteen-year-old Brittany Holmes died in November after spending a year in a vegetative state. According to the lawsuit, she visited the haunted house back in 2009 then suffered an asthma attack on the ride home which deprived her brain of oxygen. Her family thinks it was triggered by the fog and scents inside the venue, but operators of the haunted house do not believe that was case. In a statement on their website they write, "The girl did not suffer any medical problems at our haunted house ever and is not allergic to our fog fluids!" They add "We are outraged, without words upset about these false allegations!" The attorney representing Holmes' father says the reaction closely followed the teen's trip to the haunted house.

Samuel Wendt: The reaction that she had was fairly immediate. She had some pre-existing lung problems and asthma-type problems and that's my understanding, that this exasperated those problems.

Ann Rubin: Now the attorney said that Holmes medical bills totaled more than a million dollars. Holmes' mother also filed a separate lawsuit. The operators of "The Darkness" wrote on their website that they won't settle this in a backroom or in the media; they hope to be vindicated in court. Live in Soulard, Ann Rubin, News Channel 5.