Jackson v. Housing Authority of the City of High Point

BILLINGS, Justice.

The plaintiff filed an action seeking recovery against the Housing Authority of the City of High Point for the death of Mary Magdalene Jackson. On 19 February 1978 Mrs. Jackson was found dead in her apartment in the Clara Cox Apartments, a low-income housing project owned and operated by the defendant. An autopsy report indicated that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning. The plaintiff alleged that carbon monoxide backed up into the apartment because the chimney pipe from the natural gas heater was blocked by a bird’s nest, a bird carcass and other debris. She…