Chicago Files Suit in Deadly Porch Collapse

Chicago sued the owners and managers of the apartment building where 13 people died in a porch collapse, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties for allegedly building the deck without a permit.

The city also alleged the porch was too large and did not have the proper-size support beams, causing its top floor to crash onto two lower floors during a party early Sunday in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. About 50 people were on the top floor when it fell.

The city asked for a court order requiring immediate replacement of the porch and is seeking up to $500 a day for each violation. That would add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars since the porch was built in 1998.