Lawsuit: Family suffers carbon monoxide poisoning at Colorado hotel, attorney says case highlights gap in law

MONTROSE, Colo. — A lawsuit filed in Jefferson County Court claims a Colorado family suffered carbon monoxide poisoning at a Western Slope hotel, and alleges there were no carbon monoxide detectors within the room where the family was staying at the time.

The attorney behind the case believes it highlights a gap in Colorado law.

“This is an issue of a failed swimming pool heater. The vent rusted through, and our client's family of four were pretty badly poisoned," said Sam Cannon, the attorney on the case. “They had no warning. There were no detectors in their room."

Specifically, the filing states that a family checked into the Montrose Quality Inn in March of 2025 and was assigned to Room 202, which was located above the pool mechanical room. The court documents claim there was a defective pool heater with a corroded exhaust vent, and no carbon monoxide detectors present in either the pool mechanical room or Room 202.

The next morning, the filing says the family woke up and were very ill. They decided to seek medical attention, and the documents show they were diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Then, according to the lawsuit, the Montrose Fire Department responded to the hotel and identified a "life-threatening leak." The corroded section of the exhaust pipe was so rusted that a hole nearly the size of a fist was allowing gases to exit into the room, the filing states.

During the summer of 2024, the year before the allegations, the court documents claim there were repairs made to the swimming pool, and attorneys argue the corrosion of the vent pipe should have been evident. However, the vent pipe was not fixed, according to the filing.

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Cannon, who handles cases involving carbon monoxide poisoning frequently, said he struggles to clearly understand how Colorado law applies to places like hotels and motels.

"My reading of the rules is that they are likely required, potentially in the room holding the fuel-fired appliance that provides heating to the rooms, but not necessarily in every sleeping room, and not necessarily in the pool heater room. (That) is potentially a problem, because pool heaters are, in a lot of ways, more dangerous than other places, as you can tell from the history of incidents involving them," said Cannon. "If I'm sat here as someone who does a lot of this work, who's experienced in these cases, and I can't tell you exactly what the law is, it's pretty tough to expect hotel guests to be aware as well.”

Cannon now carries a carbon monoxide detector when he travels, and recommends it for others who want to protect themselves against potentially faulty devices.

Denver7 reached out to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs for clarification on how state law applies to hotels when it comes to carbon monoxide detectors. A spokesperson said they were looking into it and Denver7 will update this web article with those answers once they are available.

The lawsuit cites data from the Jenkins Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that tracks carbon monoxide incidents across the country. The group has recorded 38 such instances at Choice Hotels different brands between 1990 and 2022.

Denver7

Denver7 reached out to both defendants named in the lawsuit.

Kazi Hossain, the owner of Shakfi Hospitality LLC, spoke with Denver7 over the phone. At first, he said he should not comment until the case is resolved, but then continued to say that it is a matter of insurance and he has full coverage.

Hossain added that he believes the carbon monoxide detectors were not mandatory, because when the building was originally constructed there was no code that would have required it.

Choice Hotels International did not respond to our request for comment by the time of publication.

Denver7 is not identifying the family involved in the lawsuit since two of the victims are minors.

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