The family of an elderly woman killed by a 10-foot alligator last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the retirement community where the attack occurred.
Gloria Serge, 85, was walking her dog along the lake behind her Spanish Lakes Fairways home, a 55-plus retirement community in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Feb. 20 when the alligator emerged from the water. The alligator grabbed Serge's left foot, dragging her into the lake, where she drowned.
"The presence of large alligators in the lakes on the property was well known to the property manager, and this gator was no exception," Lesser Lesser Landy & Smith PLLC, the law firm representing the Serge family, said in a press release. "In fact, evidence obtained by our firm will show that maintenance workers in the community routinely fed this alligator chicken scraps and even named the dangerous reptile 'Henry.'"
The retirement community neglected to warn residents of the dangerous alligator lurking near the property. There were “no signs posted around the lake,” but rather “encouraged people” to utilize the area by “placing a bench along the shoreline,” according to Managing Partner Gary S. Lesser.
The law firm claims the alligator more than satisfied the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission requirements for state-contracted alligator trappers to safely and effectively remove the reptile from the property. A quick phone call from the Spanish Lakes Fairway management team could have prevented Serge’s death by using such a program, the law firm claims.
The Serge family is seeking at least $50,000 in damages from the Wynne Building Corp., which owns and operates Spanish Lakes Fairways, according to the complaint.
"We developed Spanish Lakes Fairways 37 years ago. We have approximately 3,000 residents. This is the very first time where a resident was attacked by an Alligator," Joel Wynne, president of Wynne Building Corp., said in a statement. "Mrs. Serge was a longtime resident and certainly knew of the presence of alligators and that they were inherently dangerous animals."
