The father who lost his three daughters in a Christmas Day fire is mulling a lawsuit, according to his lawyer.
Matthew Badger, whose daughters were killed in a Connecticut house fire, filed papers late last week that could be the first step toward a wrongful-death claim, his lawyer Richard Emery confirmed to Metro today.
The mother of the girls, Madonna Badger, will not be named in any lawsuit, Emery said. Matthew and Madonna are separated, and Madonna was in the home at the time of the fire, which also killed her parents.
“He does not intend to file a suit against his wife,” Emery said.
Madonna reportedly tried to commit suicide after the blaze.
Instead, Emery said, he wants to continue an investigation into the facts of that night, “whether they lead to a basis for or desire to pursue a lawsuit.”
Madonna’s boyfriend, Michael Borcina, was also in the house during the fire, and survived. Borcina was reportedly leading renovations on the house, which investigators said did not have working smoke detectors.
“He was a general contractor in a situation that ended up being a fire trap,” Emery said. “The questions are why that happened and why he allowed the kids to live there.”
The money would go toward a foundation Badger is starting in memory of his daughters, Emery said. “That’s his intention, to honor his children.”
“He’s devastated, barely functioning, and all he can think about is his daughters, and how they must have suffered terribly, and it drives him crazy,” said Emery of Matthew Badger. “The only way he can survive going forward is by thinking of ways to honor his daughters and preserve this legacy.”
Both Borcina’s lawyer, Eugene J. Riccio, and Madonna’s lawyer, Stanley Twardy Jr., declined to comment.
