CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — The estate of a woman killed in a Chesapeake apartment fire has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the complex’s property owners and landlords.

30-year-old Lydia Somerville and her mother 64-year-old Saundra Somerville were among the three people who died after a fire ripped through the Chesapeake Crossing Senior Living Apartments in July of 2017.

Fire officials said lightning started the fire.

According to court documents, the plaintiff, Valencia Jones, is suing Boyd Corporation, Chesapeake Crossing, and seven other defendants for $35,500,000.

The complaint states that those at Chesapeake Crossing “negligently failed to maintain and repair Chesapeake Crossing” in the event of a fire and that they put all lives of residents at risk.

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In 2017, Chesapeake fire officials told 10 On Your Side that the building did not have fire alarms that alert dispatch. However, the building was in compliance with code because the complex was not required to have fire alarms when it was built.

Officials did say that the buildings were equipped with smoke detectors and sprinkler systems, and that the system did cause an alarm to sound.

They believed that smoke detectors were in each unit and that single station smoke detectors, meaning not all of the detectors would sound unless all of them detected smoke.

The lawsuit did not state how the property managers were negligent and that’s one of the reasons why the nine defendants are asking the court to dismiss it.

10 On Your Side reached out to Boyd Corporation for a statement. They told us they could not respond pending litigation but their thoughts are with those who were affected.