MILWAUKEE (AP) — A landlord has been ordered to pay $1.35 million for a fire that killed two people in Milwaukee in 2019. A judge says Will Sherard has shown a “reckless disregard” for the condition of his properties. The fire began in wiring behind walls, killing 60-year-old Clarence Murrell Jr. and 53-year-old Patricia Colston. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the lawsuit was filed by Murrell’s adult children. The newspaper says the financial award was a rare step in a Milwaukee housing case. Sherard hasn’t talked publicly about the lawsuit. In 2021, the Journal Sentinel found electrical fires hit Black renters in distressed neighborhoods the hardest.
