The family of a woman who died in a Belk restroom while at work has filed a lawsuit against the department store a year after the woman's death.
On September 22, 2022, 63-year-old Bessie Durham was found dead inside the Columbia, S.C., department store’s public restroom. An investigation revealed that Durham had died four days earlier on the morning of September 15th, 2022.
Durham worked as a cleaning lady in the department store but was employed by a third-party contractor. On the day of her death, surveillance footage shows Durham entering the public restroom but was never seen leaving. According to an autopsy report released by the Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher, Durham died of natural causes. Reports later revealed that Durham had suffered a heart attack after entering the bathroom.
The family accuses the department store of negligence because Durham’s body was not found until days after she had passed. The family says that Belk failed to inspect restrooms, despite Durham's cleaning cart being positioned right outside the public restroom.
Additionally, the family accuses the department store of failing to properly hire contractors who inspect and clean facilities to make sure cleaning has been done properly. Had such work practices been in place, Durham's body could have been located earlier and would not have subjected the deceased mother and grandmother to being left alone, decomposing in a public restroom.
The family’s legal team shares that because of the decomposition Durham was subjected to, the family was robbed of a proper and peaceful burial.
The family shared the horrific aftermath when her mother’s body was discovered. During a news release announcing the lawsuit, the family detailed, “We could smell her body inside the casket at the funeral.” Durham’s daughter, Sheneki Jeter, adds, “I never smelled a decomposing body before in my life, but that smell. I won’t forget. At the funeral of course we sat in the front as the family, her children, and the odor was horrible. Every time I smelled it, I felt sick to my stomach. It was horrible.”
Durham’s other daughter, Sylvia Smith, added, “My mother was a hard worker, and she didn’t deserve this.”
The lawsuit names Belk, janitorial contractor KBS, and several employees as defendants and is seeking unspecified damages. The suit alleges gross negligence on the part of Belk and KBS.
As highlighted in Hendricks v. Clemson University and numerous other cases, South Carolina courts define gross negligence as “the intentional, conscious failure to do something which one ought to do or the doing of something one ought not to do.”
The family shares that they want to honor their mother’s memory by using any awarded damages to establish a college fund for young girls who want to enter a trade school.
