Gloria Serge.Photo:Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith, PLLC
Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith, PLLC
Serge was a mother of five children, a grandmother of 15, and a great-grandmother of nine, according to apress releasefrom Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith, the firm representing the family. She lived in Spanish Lakes Fairways for almost 30 years and often walked her dog Trooper there.
“I was told there had been an event and law enforcement was on the scene,” son Bill Serge said in a statement when the lawsuit was announced, perTCPalm.com. “But I never could have imagined the agonizing way in which my mom spent the final moments of her life.”
Acomplaintwas filed Thursday on behalf of Serge’s family against the Wynne Building Corporation, the owner of Spanish Lakes Fairways.
PEOPLE reached out to Wynne Building Corporation for comment Friday but did not immediately hear back. The president of the company, Joel Wynne, reportedly said Thursday that he had not seen the lawsuit, per TCPalm.com.
The complaint further claimed that Spanish Lakes Fairways violated its duties of reasonable care when the community allegedly permitted its residents and staff to feed the wildlife in the retention pond and walk near it, among other things.
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Gary Lesser, one of the attorneys representing Gloria Serge’s family, says her death was fully preventable.
Lesser says that in filing the lawsuit, the woman’s family hopes that they can prevent similar deaths from happening in the future.
“It’s about alligator safety for people in general,” he says, “but especially for homeowners associations and property owners that can control what happens when they know dangerous alligators are present. One phone call [to the Florida Wildlife Commission] literally could have saved a life here.”
source: people.com
