Wrongful death suit filed after two Lamplighter Inn deaths in same room
The father of a man who died in the Lamplighter Inn sued the motel’s owners, alleging the same room lacked a carbon monoxide detector after two guests died there five days apart.
The Lamplighter Inn’s owners now face a wrongful death lawsuit after two guests died in the same room five days apart, a case that puts Eureka’s motel safety practices under a harsh spotlight.
The suit was filed April 1 in Humboldt County Superior Court by the father of the second victim, naming owners Harjinder Heer and Surinder Heer along with unidentified defendants. It alleges the property failed in its most basic duty to keep guests safe and says the room had no carbon monoxide detector, even though firefighters later found elevated carbon monoxide levels there.
Eureka police first responded to the 4000 block of Broadway on Feb. 21, 2026, after a report of two unconscious people at the motel that was initially treated as a possible overdose. One person was found dead at the scene and the other was taken to a local hospital. Five days later, on Feb. 26, officers and Humboldt Bay Fire returned to the same room for another report of two unconscious people. Again, one person died at the scene and the other was transported to a hospital.
After the second death, firefighters checked the room with a gas monitor and found high carbon monoxide levels. Reporting said the room was not equipped with a carbon monoxide detector. City officials then moved quickly. The owner was served with a first and final notice requiring the property to stay closed until mechanical inspections were completed and fire-code violations were remedied. Eureka officials later ordered the Lamplighter closed indefinitely on March 3, 2026.
The lawsuit goes beyond one family’s claim for damages. It raises questions about what the owners knew, whether warning signs existed before the deaths, and whether life-safety equipment and inspections had been neglected at an aging roadside motel. California Health and Safety Code Section 17926 requires carbon monoxide detectors in hotel and motel dwelling units intended for human occupancy in specified circumstances, a detail that could make the case important for other lodging properties across Eureka and the North Coast.
The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office had not yet publicly determined the causes of death for the two victims, but the repeated deaths in the same room already triggered a broader public-safety response. The case now tests not only the liability of the Lamplighter’s owners, but also how seriously local lodging operators and city inspectors enforce basic protections meant to keep guests alive.
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